Artwork Description
Kara Walker – Preliminary Sketch for Monkey’s Uncle
Dimensions: 46 x 40″ framed / 40 x 34.5″ unframed
Year: 1997
Medium: graphite, tape, on paper
Monkey’s Uncle is a preliminary sketch drawn on paper that includes proof of process materials such as tape. The process materials show Walker’s spontaneity, as if she had an idea that needed to come to life. The drawing is signed by Walker, and includes notes for the printmaker, about the Monkey’s Uncle image. Walker is from the same (first) series of works Walker made with Landfall Press. The looseness of her gestures gives insight into the freedom she allows herself while creating an image. She wasn’t a diva who needed to work on pristine paper; she drew on a part of a former folio, welcoming the tape marks and residual life of the materials she used. She obviously loved the liberated appearance of this image so much, that she signed it as a finished work.