Currently, I am finalizing about 20 new additions to my Pharmacopoeia series.
Mark Allen Soderstrom
CREATIVE PROJECTS
Celluloid Transmutations
The concept of gesture drawing has become a core exercise in academic drawing instruction since distilled by Kimon Nicolaїdes in the early 1940’s. This exercise involves quickly rendering the most essential composition of a form in space and time with little minimal regard to specificity. It attempts an end-run around artists’ self-conscious inner critic. As a drawing instructor, I have used this exercise numerous times and in multiple variations.
Celluloid Transmutations in the end result of combining this approach to rendering time-based subjects of repetitive exposure.
From 2009 to 2010 I repeatedly watched the film Casablanca in an attempt to parallel an experiment I was conducting on certain musical works that I was attracted to but simultaneously found incomprehensible. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand Casablanca, but that I thought it interesting to see what would happen to my perspective of a work of art within another medium with repeated exposure.
While intrigued with the time-lapse version of gesture drawings (i.e. sketching an athlete in action over several seconds) I found myself considering a long-running series of time-lapse gesture drawing of Casablanca over its entire duration. I have played with other variations on the approach including other films, size variations, and breaking the film down into scene-by-scene versions arranged stacked reminiscent of celluloid film strips.
All works are graphite on Clearprint vellum unless stated otherwise.
![Casablanca 1942 (Full Film), 2014](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_6348a3ba2e4f4d9f91444a0624d393a3.jpg/v1/fill/w_696,h_494,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/b4dbf9_6348a3ba2e4f4d9f91444a0624d393a3.jpg)
Casablanca 1942 (Full Film), 2014
24" x 36"
![Jaws 1974 (Full Film), 2013](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_926be0b576264c7b96a9ce9618196292~mv2_d_5508_3813_s_4_2.jpg/v1/fill/w_118,h_82,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_926be0b576264c7b96a9ce9618196292~mv2_d_5508_3813_s_4_2.jpg)
Jaws 1974 (Full Film), 2013
24" x 36"
![Once Upon a Time in the West 1968 (Full Film), 2013](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_db41fd190b194ead8285e963c84ac7cb~mv2_d_5736_3880_s_4_2.jpg/v1/fill/w_119,h_81,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_db41fd190b194ead8285e963c84ac7cb~mv2_d_5736_3880_s_4_2.jpg)
Once Upon a Time in the West 1968 (Full Film), 2013
24" x 36"
![The General 1926 (Full Film), 2013](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_406c90a14b454f0cbae5b229305112c5~mv2_d_5548_3826_s_4_2.jpg/v1/fill/w_119,h_82,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_406c90a14b454f0cbae5b229305112c5~mv2_d_5548_3826_s_4_2.jpg)
The General 1926 (Full Film), 2013
24" x 36"
![Casablanca 1942 (Full Film), 2013](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_788e3cc3625a4e43b9f7921925b501ce.jpg/v1/fill/w_115,h_84,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_788e3cc3625a4e43b9f7921925b501ce.jpg)
Casablanca 1942 (Full Film), 2013
18" x 24"
![Casablanca 1942 (Full Film), 2011](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_905a4d4cbbd14f90a4e1f0b84073da92.jpg/v1/fill/w_112,h_72,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_905a4d4cbbd14f90a4e1f0b84073da92.jpg)
Casablanca 1942 (Full Film), 2011
11" x 17"
![Casablanca 1942 (Scene 37/80), 2016](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_ff9dd5cbd33743099f0c6ee4d31d1e77.jpg/v1/fill/w_108,h_68,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_ff9dd5cbd33743099f0c6ee4d31d1e77.jpg)
Casablanca 1942 (Scene 37/80), 2016
11" x 17
![Casablanca 1942 (Scene 16/80), 2013](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_49cf4f87191747ff827e9f8cf7f19722.jpg/v1/fill/w_108,h_72,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_49cf4f87191747ff827e9f8cf7f19722.jpg)
Casablanca 1942 (Scene 16/80), 2013
11" x 17"
![Casablanca 1942 (Scenes 00-03/80), 2016](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_a3b8951067594faea991dd50dd02ca19.jpg/v1/fill/w_108,h_69,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_a3b8951067594faea991dd50dd02ca19.jpg)
![Casablanca 1942 (Scenes 00-03/80), 2016](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_5e4256d86f484297a1857d78ef2dd997.jpg/v1/fill/w_108,h_68,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_5e4256d86f484297a1857d78ef2dd997.jpg)
![Casablanca 1942 (Scenes 00-03/80), 2016](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_6269b0ce03db482bb340292aaa184995.jpg/v1/fill/w_108,h_69,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_6269b0ce03db482bb340292aaa184995.jpg)
![Casablanca 1942 (Scenes 00-03/80), 2016](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_2191da9c5da94fbb8f29cc34d830e25a.jpg/v1/fill/w_108,h_66,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_2191da9c5da94fbb8f29cc34d830e25a.jpg)
![Casablanca 1942 (Scenes 00-03/80), 2016](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_76a4ddc1e3024c15b9f0e6322defd80a.jpg/v1/fill/w_108,h_70,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_76a4ddc1e3024c15b9f0e6322defd80a.jpg)
Casablanca 1942 (Scenes 00-03/80), 2016
11" x 17"
![Casablanca 1942 (Full Film on Yupo), 2011](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4dbf9_1fb3130b401b49b7a3a93d893a629f6b.jpg/v1/fill/w_108,h_84,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b4dbf9_1fb3130b401b49b7a3a93d893a629f6b.jpg)
Casablanca 1942 (Full Film on Yupo), 2011
20" x 24"