About the work

The drawing is a manual scan of a small continuous line drawing of a figure. It was produced by drawing a succession of horizontal ink lines from the top of the drawn area to the bottom. The figure emerges through the interference between the small variations in the lines. The resistance of the medium and the shortcomings of the procedure are as important as the resulting image.

Date and country of birth

1973, GB

About the artist

Born 1973 Stockton-on-Tees, David Musgrave lives and works in London. Graduated from Chelsea College of Art and Design.

Musgrave’s work is held in public and private collections worldwide including Tate and MoMA.

Selected exhibitions include Hooks & Claws, Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich (2020); David Musgrave and Simon Ling, greengrassi, London (2020); Good Grief, Charlie Brown!, Somerset House, London (2018-19); The Policeman’s Beard is Half Constructed, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2017); Space Force Construction, V-A-C Foundation, Venice (2017); Being Thing, CIAP, île de Vassivière, Beaumont du-Lac (2015); The Noing Uv It, Kunsthalle Bergen (2015); Être Chose, CIAP Île de Vassivière, Beaumont-du-Lac (2015); and The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, and touring (2013).

Awards include being shortlisted for the Fitzcarraldo Editions Novel Prize, for his novel Total Abstraction (2018); selection as a finalist for the Prix Canson (2015); and his digital animation Studio golem being broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom (2013).