Way Out of Line is a drawing show that poses the question, what is line? Historically drawing has been a way for artists, architects and designers to make preliminary plans for larger bodies of work. Recently, contemporary drawing has been featured prominently in books such as Vitamin D, New Perspectives in Drawing (Phaidon 2005) and is promoted by institutions such as the Drawing Center (Est. 1977) that provides a forum for artists working in the medium of drawing. As MFA candidates how can we challenge our concept of drawing? Perhaps one way is to narrow our focus and think about line itself. If we can strip drawing down to it’s most basic building block then perhaps we can facilitate a dialogue that will push the concepts of drawing, thereby opening it up to all types of media from the traditional to the experimental. Just as Richard Long’s A Line Made by Walking (1967) redefined drawing as a medium not limited to pen and paper or Joseph Beuy’s challenge in 1973 to transform sculpture into a medium that could be “extended to the invisible materials used by everyone”, so too could Way Out of Line force us to think our own “way out” of a mark made on a piece of paper. Way Out of Line is curated by Mamie Korpela and features Washington University MFA candidates Clyde Ashby , Andrew Cozzens , John Early, Joel Fullerton , Mary Beth Hassan , Nick Hutchings , Mad Mohre , Kathryn Neale, Christopher Ottinger, Nicolette Ross and Carlie Trosclair. Join us at the Des Lee Gallery for the opening reception Friday, September 11, 2009 from 6-9. The exhibition runs through October 25, 2009. The Des Lee Gallery is located at 1627 Washington Ave., St. Louis, Missouri 63103. 314.621.8735. Gallery hours for this exhibition are Friday through Sunday from 1 until 6.