Untitled
Artist
Ronald Weil
(American, 1945 - 2019)
Date2018-2019
MediumPowder graphite and charcoal, with bone black on paper
DimensionsImage Size: 30 × 22 in. (76.2 × 55.9 cm)
Frame Size: 34 1/2 × 26 7/8 in. (87.6 × 68.3 cm)
ClassificationsDrawing
Credit LineGift of the Estate of Ronald Weil, 2020
Object numberUAC6733
DescriptionRon Weil was born in New York and grew up in Detroit. While he had been drawing and painting since he was a child, his parents did not support him pursuing an education and career in the arts. Rather, he earned his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Michigan, followed by a graduate degree in economics from the University of California at Berkeley, as well as a self-developed interdisciplinary study in geography. After spending a few years in California, he returned to Detroit in 2017: a city he really enjoyed being a part of. Weil had a variety of jobs throughout his life. He taught high school and college, worked as a real estate developer, urban planner, community worker, laborer, cab driver, and a dealer at a casino in San Francisco. Weil’s passion for creative expression often triggered unique periods in his life. As Weil himself puts it, “art kept popping up like a mushroom in the woods.” During his graduate studies at Berkeley, he took a year off to experiment with different techniques in black-and-white photography. He was very politically astute, and after completing his graduate degree, he spent a few years making political posters with silkscreen. Following the death of his first wife in 2011, Weil fully dedicated himself to his art career. He composed drawings using materials from his wife’s sickroom. Weil also spent some time working with pastels, but he often moved away from color to create monochrome works, using black, gray, and white. He gravitated towards powdered charcoal as he enjoyed the challenge of this medium. Weil also used powdered graphite and rust that he made himself. Additionally, he employed natural forces, such as air and water, to create his works. He created his art quickly, but it often has the appearance of being the result of slow natural processes. Weil was a risk taker and was never afraid to try something new, which is reflected in his artmaking. He would use items such as a rolling pin, sifter for powdered charcoal and graphite, string, coins, squirt guns, and hypodermic needles to apply his media. If he did not like a drawing, he would tear it up and repurpose it as a collage. Although he committed to his art career later in life, he was very prolific. He worked every day, even starting and completing some of his works in one day. His widow, Nancy Jones, shares that he would bring home artwork and they would observe and discuss it together. Weil was interested in comparing his own perspective of his work as the artist and his wife’s perspective as the viewer. There was not one correct way to interpret Weil’s work, he encouraged viewers to have their own unique experiences, all of which are valid. Ron Weil passed away in the summer of 2019, but he will forever be remembered as a beloved husband, father, and member of the Detroit art community.
This 2019 untitled drawing is one of three works that is currently on display in Confluent: Detroit Art and the University Art Collection at the Elaine L. Jacob Gallery. As noted previously, each viewer of Weil’s work has a unique and valid experience. When I look at this work, I see an aerial view of trees on the darker top and bottom portions of the composition, with a gray river flowing down the middle. On the other hand, Jones sees more of a celestial image, as she knows that Weil was interested in the genesis of things, like the beginning of the universe; the tactile element of Weil’s homemade rust creates the appearance of a meteor shower. Nevertheless, both our ways of seeing this image are valid and meaningful.
Written by Angela Athnasios
Sources: Nancy Jones
https://www.freep.com/obituaries/det077654
https://ron-weil.com/contact.html
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