23 - Wednesday, February 22, 1989 - North Shore News 7 BLAIR DRAWSON can afford to E be choosy about his work these § days. A newcomer to West Van- 4 couver, Drawson’s graffitiesque illustrations have appeared in Es- quire, Playboy and G.Q. a Drawson also creates a regular g comic strip for New York Woman § magazine. ae NEWS photo Mite Wakefield Drawson knows how to shock A 1920s-style flapper gir with a waist slimmer than her pencil-thin arms straddles her squat “elegant gentleman’’ friend. His claw-like hands clutch her enormous rear end, while his serpentine tongue curlicues around her massive disrobed breast. A top hat levitates ; mysteriously over his granite-like head Beneath the amorous couple, a minute poodle yips for attention it cannot receive. Apart frorn the sex act depicted, this watercolor by West Van- couver’s Blair Drawson is anything but erotic. What is perceived is irony, paradox, a strange humor and Drawson’s technical skill. EVELYN JACOB feature writer The “engaged” couple seem to be enjoying themselves, yet has painted a statue-like stillness into the piece which gives the impression that the couple isn’t doing anything at all. Drawson, whose works have appeared in Esquire, Rolling Stone, Playboy and Saturday Night mag- azines, hzs given his figures a distorted slant: proportion of the human body is based loosely on reality, but mainly on hyperbole. Most of his people, particularly women, have ludicrous hourglass figures made humorously angular. “The real reason | make distor- tions is because I like to do it,” says Drawson, who recently gave up his Toronto home for the West Coast. When pressed however, Drawson offers another explana- tion: “There are writers who in- vestigate technical parts of their medium to see how far they can go before they lose the reader. | like to do that with my audience — challenge them — prod them along.” With 22 years experience as an editorial illustrator, Drawson, a native of Winnipeg, has received almost every major magazine il- tustration award for his outrageous depictions of human foibles. His exaggerated female forms — “t love women,” he eagerly ad- mits — all share minute ex- tremities, impossibly small hands and feet, which help create the sa- tirical tone Drawson desires. His subject matter ranges from gentle fantasy to stark, urban scenes. One illustration, a woman and two men in a cheap bar, ex- + udes ugliness saturated with feel- ings of imminent sex and violence. This is heightened by Drawson’s menacing, graffitiesque style, which has led critics to label his work everything from nasty and shocking to sexist or too sexy. Drawson remembers when one illustration scared a woman right out of a gallery: “It was during a showing of my paintings in 1979- 80. | watched this woman to see what her reaction would be. She left almost running. | could tell that my illustrations had frightened er.” Drawson is reluctant to accept the charge that he is a cynic — “There's a sense of tarring the creator with the same brush used to depict the characters who themselves are cynical,”’ he says. But thoughts of how a friend’s young daughter would perceive his vision of the world convinced Drawson to re-think his work akogether. Today, he says his work has mellowed, although he is still motivated by what he calls ‘’pas- sion and paradox.” “| was content to shock, star- tle, shake people up when f was young. That was good enough,” says Drawson. “‘t'm not trying to shake people to their very founda- tions anymore. Now, | need rec- ognition from the viewer that my work has caused him to say: ‘I know that experience. I've had it” Entertainment i VHS & BETA g 431 Marine Dr, typ, yy My } us how you SE THE NEWS And then you can tell us where you'd like to spend your *200. ff you have an interesting story to relate about how you've § used the North Shore News to your benefit in the last m 20 years, you could win $200. As part of our 20th Anniversary celebration, well award *$200 to the reader who has the most interesting story each month until the end of the year. *The $200 must be spent at one of the advertisers in that month's editions of The News. If you made news, got an issue resolved, got a real steal in the classifieds, won some other grand prize or maybe even got married as a result of a personal ad, jot it down and send it to us before Feb. 21, and you could be this month's ‘I USE THE NEWS’ winner. Win*200—-— Enter Before Mar. 21 Send submissions to: I USE THE NEWS’ North Shore News 1139 Lonsdale North Vancouver, B.C. north shore A Strong Past....A Strong Presence