Marker sketches · drawn from life
Olek Buzunov
{NO ERASERS / NO UNDO}
Drawn entirely by hand from direct observation. No AI.
425 sheets in marker 101 nights 2017–2026 Jersey City, NJ
This is not a performance. A face arrives on paper in minutes, in front of whoever is there, with nothing taken back.
The clock is a boundary, not a race.
What remains on the sheet is the record of the encounter—not its purpose.
02 The rule
1
The clock
A pose lasts between 30 sec and 20 min. When the model moves, the sheet is finished: there is no going back to it.
2
The marker
Marker does not come off. A line that was wrong is still on the sheet, with the better one beside it. No eraser, no undo.
3
The room
Every sheet is drawn from a person who is there: a model on a stand, with other people drawing and whoever stops to watch. Not from a photograph, and not by a machine.
03 The nights
All 147 nights →Every public drawing session since 2017: meetups, studio nights and the rooms that hosted them. The performance record of the practice, one year at a time.
208 sessions 2017–2026
- 2017 Drawing AmericaSalmagundi Club, ManhattanJersey City Art SchoolElevator (JC Print Room), Jersey CityMy studio 48 with drawings →
- 2018 Drawing AmericaCentral Park, New YorkMy studioElevator (JC Print Room), Jersey City 24 with drawings →
- 2019 Drawing AmericaElevator (JC Print Room), Jersey CityMana Contemporary, Jersey CityJersey City Art SchoolMy studio 13 with drawings →
- 2020 My studioMana Contemporary, Jersey City 16 with drawings →
- 2021 My studioDrawing with Russians (Art D Block), ManhattanJersey City Art SchoolOld Stone House Drawing Studio, BrooklynDrawing America 24 with drawings →
- 2022 My studioJersey City Art School 14 with drawings →
- 2023 My studioDrawing with Russians (Art D Block), Manhattan 2 with drawings →
- 2024 Drawing AmericaElevator (JC Print Room), Jersey CityDrawing with Russians (Art D Block), Manhattan 4 with drawings →
- 2025 My studioDrawing with Russians (Art D Block), Manhattan 1 with drawings →
- 2026 Drawing AmericaMy studio 1 with drawings →
The 101 nights drawn in marker, newest first.
20261 night
20251 night
20244 nights
20232 nights
202211 nights
202120 nights
-
Dec 2 Drawing with Russians -
Dec 2 Drawing with Russians -
Nov 13 Drawing America -
Nov 10 Jersey City Art School -
Nov 4 Drawing with Russians -
Oct 23 Drawing America -
Oct 23 My studio -
Oct 16 My studio -
Oct 4 Old Stone House Drawing Studio -
Oct 2 My studio -
Sep 4 My studio -
Sep 1 Jersey City Art School -
Aug 21 My studio -
Jun 19 My studio -
Jun 17 Drawing with Russians -
Jun 3 Drawing with Russians -
Apr 17 My studio -
Apr 10 My studio -
Mar 27 My studio -
Feb 20 My studio
20195 nights
201822 nights
-
Dec 22 Drawing America -
Dec 8 Drawing America -
Nov 3 Drawing America -
Sep 22 Drawing America -
Sep 8 Drawing America -
Aug 4 Drawing America -
Aug 1 Elevator -
Jul 14 Drawing America -
Jul 7 My studio -
Jun 30 Drawing America -
Jun 9 Central Park -
Jun 2 Drawing America -
Apr 21 Drawing America -
Mar 24 Drawing America -
Mar 17 Drawing America -
Mar 10 Drawing America -
Mar 3 Drawing America -
Feb 24 Drawing America -
Feb 17 Drawing America -
Feb 10 Drawing America -
Feb 3 Drawing America -
Jan 6 Drawing America
201735 nights
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Nov 25 Drawing America -
Nov 11 Drawing America -
Nov 4 Drawing America -
Oct 28 Drawing America -
Oct 21 Drawing America -
Oct 14 Drawing America -
Sep 23 Drawing America -
Sep 16 Drawing America -
Sep 9 Drawing America -
Sep 6 Jersey City Art School -
Sep 2 Drawing America -
Aug 26 Drawing America -
Aug 19 Drawing America -
Aug 12 Drawing America -
Aug 5 Drawing America -
Jul 26 Jersey City Art School -
Jul 22 Drawing America -
Jul 15 Drawing America -
Jul 12 Jersey City Art School -
Jul 1 Drawing America -
Jun 24 Drawing America -
Jun 17 Salmagundi Club -
Jun 10 Drawing America -
Jun 3 Drawing America -
May 27 Drawing America -
May 13 Drawing America -
Apr 22 Drawing America -
Apr 15 Drawing America -
Apr 8 Drawing America -
Mar 11 Drawing America -
Mar 4 Drawing America -
Feb 25 Drawing America -
Feb 18 Drawing America -
Feb 11 Drawing America -
Feb 4 Drawing America
04 A year in residence
Proposal · twelve monthsOne year, one medium, one subject: the people of a shared building, drawn from life in marker.
Twelve months in a live/work community, spent on one thing: marker drawings from life of the people who live and work there, and of the ones who come through. Residents at work, rehearsals, recording sessions, fittings, openings, open studios. One pose, one sheet, a few minutes each, dated and kept in the order drawn.
The practice is urban and social already. I live in Jersey City and have drawn in its rooms since 2017: Jersey City Art School, Elevator, Mana Contemporary, and in 208 public sessions in all. It happens where people already are, and it has always drawn a crowd without asking for one.
What I am after is what a drawing session cannot give me: people at work rather than posing, a dancer or a musician as the subject, and a wall large enough to see a year of sheets at once.
What the year makes
- Several hundred sheets, each with its date, its length and its place in its night.
- A portrait of the building: every resident who agrees to sit, drawn in minutes in their own studio.
- The record in the open: each night published here sheet by sheet, the way the nights are now.
- A wall at the end of the year: the sheets hung together, in the order they were drawn.
What I bring to a shared building
- Drawing where the work happens: at a rehearsal, in the recording studio, at a fitting, without stopping it.
- A drawing table at open studios, openings and the fair: whoever sits down is drawn in five minutes, in front of whoever is watching.
- A model night open to the residents and neighbours who draw: a model, a clock and room to work.
- Other disciplines as the subject: a dancer gives movement, a musician rhythm, a designer a silhouette.
What it needs
- A table, a wall and people.
- Paper and markers. No open flame, no fumes, no dust.
05 A sheet of your own
All 425 marker sketches →06 About
Draws in public: parks, platforms, rehearsals, openings. Not a show, but the process has always drawn a crowd. Timed drawing from life, in marker. Jersey City.
