Wes Mills
Drawings from the Cartin Collection
1981–2005

Art Basel Miami Beach
December 1–4, 2005

3627 NE 1st Court
Miami

The idea of a fluid, cyclical, mysterious rhythm of creation and reflection is just one of countless ways to approach the work of Wes Mills.

At moments one experiences the work as a record, sometimes a mute record, of some prior and obscure event or experience, perhaps a memory or perhaps a memory of a memory. One experiences the work as a reflection of some prior experience. And then in an instant, the same drawing becomes the experience itself. Drawings shift back and forth from marking experiences, to being the experience that in turn we ourselves become the marks of. Like divine breath, at one moment they create and in the next instant become memories of their own creative act.

Mills' drawings are only drawings by technical definition: they are not only the record of a prior mark-making gesture, but are themselves primary modes of knowing and being. They don't just record; they themselves create what is recorded.

This exhibition is an installation of approximately four hundred drawings by Wes Mills from The Cartin Collection. This collection of drawings presents a cohesive overview of the artist's work spanning more than 20 years.

Mills currently resides near Missoula, Montana.