Wes Lang; The Black Drawings

Delightful paper-based works featuring characters both familiar and new, animal-like and otherworldly

For several decades, American artist Wes Lang (born 1972) has been honing his craft and mining the iconography of a post-pop Americana. This book is dedicated entirely to Lang’s prolific output in drawing, featuring 96 works crafted using acrylic, crayon and pencil. The dark, otherworldly characters from his paintings—skeletons and disembodied skulls—remain, but now inhabit blank white spaces, intricately inscribed with playful expressions and phrases that echo Taoist philosophy, reflecting the spiritual foundations of Lang’s practice. More than just companions to his immense paintings, the drawings stand as a significant body of work, continuing to demonstrate the breadth of Lang’s influences—ranging from fine art icons such as Francis Bacon, James Ensor and Francisco Goya to the kitsch imagery of his childhood. Lang effortlessly metabolizes these disparate inspirations, creating a distinctive style that expresses a deeply personal artistic voice.