Success!

The first three portrait exchanges were completed this morning on the lovely tree-lined path leading up to the Central Park Zoo. Artists Wei Chen, Ren Jien-Guo, Peter Walsh and Zhuang Xuemin traded sketches to get the Exchange off to a great start. Each drawing took about 15-20 minutes, first with Walsh posing and then, switching chairs, with Walsh drawing. Each full exchange - with two drawings, discussions and interviews - took about an hour. Photos, slides shows and video will be posted soon!

Comments by Peter Walsh:
“The first drawings are very interesting. The portraits I did of Zhuang, Ren and Chen, drawn in that order, are fine although I really didn’t hit my stride till the third drawing – of Wei Chen! It’s brutally difficult to keep up with these professionals. In general, my drawings seem a little bit flat still. I’ll have to work on building depth. Each portrait of me is unique, which I find exciting. Each of the artists captured a different aspect of how I look. I think that Chen, Ren and Zhuang had a better grasp of capturing a likeness than I do and they certainly work amazingly quickly. The only real drawback for the day is that the paper I chose – Rives BFK – has too strong of a tooth. We all struggled with it. I may see if I can find a smoother paper for the next session.”

Kathy Brew and Roberto Guerra were on hand to shoot video and do interviews with both the artists and passersby. Louise Ma multi-tasked doing fantastic Mandarin-English translations, taking photos and explaining the project to interested park goers. Alex Ramirez-Mallis was also on site taking photos. 

Many thanks to everyone! Stay tuned for updates, news and schedule announcements.