Dieter Roth On Oppressive Paintings / The Democracy of Art On Paper / Drawing

Little Tentative Recipe, Dieter Roth, 1968

'The bigger and heavier the stuff is, the more oppressing it is. I want to have paper to work on that is light, you can throw it away. The idea that you give a big painting of a huge size and heavy canvas and everything, you can give on a little piece of paper in one book (...) Books are cheap and people can throw them away. You don't oppress people too much.'
                             - Dieter Roth, quoted in In Numbers: Serial Publications by Artists Since 1955

I bet you didn't know that recipients of big paintings are another oppressed group to add to the list. But they are! Poor things. What can we do to help them? Perhaps we could offer to visit them and relieve them of those paintings. I would gladly do it if I had room to store them (having established if they're worth loads of money).

Joking aside, oh how I agree with Dieter Roth. But I would, wouldn't I, as someone whose preferred medium is paper and having produced a few books/magazines in my time. We know Roth the rebel, trasher of Fine Art rules, prolific scribbler, book-maker, print-maker etc. It makes sense that he would embrace paper over canvas. Despite token efforts (like recognising a disregarded minority and appearing to care) galleries do display works on paper but nearly always in the broader context, ie with paintings which, naturally, are promoted as the more 'serious' work. Whether drawn or printed on, paper is the poor relation.

Being relatively poor myself, paper is perfect. Because I live in a small flat, there's simply no room to store canvases, should I feel inclined to use them, which I don't. As for books, as Roth points out, they are cheap (though his certainly aren't today on the current market). Books are democratic and can be bought by anyone, assuming they're not elite Artist's books made by 'names'. 

Yes, so pity the oppressed. Also vilify those painters who oppress them! let's get a twitter mob going, hunting out painters who have oppressed other by foisting their big paintings on them. 

Turned Out Nice Again, RTomens, 2020

Drew this this morning. The sun was shining. The pen played up. No matter!