In Search of Lost Drawing Joy
“The first drawing I remember making was a caricature of my father. I was eight years old and, of course, I’d made plenty of drawings before then, but this was the first time my dad said anything about one of them. He was clearly impressed. That’s probably why I remember it so well. It was the first time I felt I was heading in the right direction,” Guzman recalls.
For him, drawing has always been a refuge and a form of therapy. Growing up in rural Norway as one of only two non-ethnically Norwegian families in the area, he needed ways to cope.
“There was a lot of racism in the 1990s, and I needed a way to get through everyday life. Drawing became a defence mechanism. I drew caricatures of the people who bullied me. That still carries over into my artistic practice today. Much of what I draw now comes from memories of my past, whether they are traumatic or nostalgic.”
Back to the Cave
This autumn, Victor Guzman is creating Pista Pista, a drawing workshop at MUNCH as part of the museum’s major initiative Come Draw with Us. One of the project’s core principles is that everyone can draw, regardless of experience or skill level. Guzman’s workshop centres on the idea of leaving a mark.
“I’m interested in what happens when we leave marks together, collectively. That’s what I want to explore through this workshop. I’m looking back to our cave-dwelling ancestors and the way they drew together.”
The workshop will take the form of a room entirely covered in paper, Guzman explains, with several of his own drawings and motifs displayed as prompts and inspiration for the children.
“The idea is that they can create their own marks in response to my drawings. But they’re also free to draw over them, add to them, or take them somewhere completely different.”
Running for a month, the workshop is something Guzman sees as an artwork in its own right. Together, the participants will create a collaborative installation that gradually takes over the space, with countless individual lines and marks combining to tell a story.
“There’s something wonderfully primitive about children’s drawings and imagery, and I really love that. Together, we’ll create our own kind of cave in this workshop. In a way, we’re going back to the beginning, back to the very first works of art. It’s a full-circle moment.”
Drawing with Bated Breath
As he has grown older, drawing has become increasingly serious for Victor Guzman, something he uses for training, practice and artistic investigation.
“The older I get as an artist, the more fascinated I become by the masters. I can spend ages practising how to perfect a fingernail or the shadow on a finger. I take drawing very seriously these days, and my wife says I breathe incredibly heavily when I’m doing it,” he says with a smile.
Yet even as drawing has become more serious, he has also become more comfortable with making mistakes.
“I’m much braver now than I used to be. There’s something exciting about not striving for perfection and seeing what emerges instead. That’s probably one reason I’ve become increasingly interested in children’s drawings over the past few years. Children have such vivid imaginations and such a strong need to express them. Drawing is a wonderful tool for that.”
Guzman still experiences drawing as profoundly therapeutic. The sense of switching off that comes from putting pen to paper is, he believes, especially valuable for children and young people.
“When I draw, I enter a zone that’s a wonderful place to be. I become so focused that I forget everything around me. I’m completely still, completely absorbed by the sheet of paper in front of me and the process itself.”
Animal Pop Culture
As Victor Guzman develops a drawing workshop for children and young people at MUNCH, it has been important for him to draw on memories of his own childhood drawings. Back then, he often filled sketchbooks with pop-cultural references, some of which he thinks today’s children will still recognise.
“Children love animals, so I think pop-cultural characters with an animal side to them can really spark their imagination. At last, all those hours spent in my bedroom doodling Sonic might come in handy.”
And while we’re back in that childhood bedroom, what ever happened to the caricature of his father, Victor’s very first drawing memory?
“I can still picture it. It was heavily inspired by the comic strip Billy, but I’m sure it was thrown away years ago. I think my parents got rid of quite a lot of what I drew,” Guzman says, laughing.
About Victor Guzman:
Victor Guzman is a Norwegian-Chilean visual artist who graduated from the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (KMD) at the University of Bergen. Drawing lies at the heart of his practice, often in dialogue with sculpture, painting, video and installation. Rooted in personal experience, his work explores ideas of identity, culture and memory through references to family histories, popular culture and history. Guzman has exhibited at venues including the National Museum of Norway, the Autumn Exhibition (Høstutstillingen), Bergen Kunsthall and the Drawing Triennial (Tegnetriennalen).
