This drawing project was created in response to Sol LeWitt’s wall drawing Loopy Doopy (red and purple). Nadia Odlum was part of the install team for this work at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, for Kaldor Public Art Project’s Sol LeWitt: Affinities and Resonances.
Throughout the creation of Loopy Doopy (red and purple) Odlum was fascinated by the physicality of the process, and the collaborative methods required to make a work of this scale. While LeWitt's instructions are specific, the final work is imbued with subtle variances, born of the bodies that translate it.
This was particularly apparent in the process of drawing the large curves on the wall. To create even curves, the team used a long piece of plastic conduit found in the AGNSW workshop. When dividing up the teams, LeWitt studio draughtsman Gabriel Hurier commented "…you can't draw with less than three people". He was right. Creating the curve and drawing the line required an intricate choreography of shifting hands, bodily attention, and skillful cooperation.
In August 2022 Odlum spent two days in residence in the Drawing Gallery at the National Art School, as part of the project 'The Drawing Exchange'. Inspired by the Loopy Doopy process, she borrowed the piece of conduit and used it to create a collaborative drawing game. The work 'You can't draw with less than three people' sees three or more artists collaborate to generate a drawing of large, curved lines upon the gallery wall, mapping the gallery space and recording the interaction of their bodies.
