Drawing game Exquisite Corpse becomes basis for Portland art exhibit - OregonLive.com

While the tradition of drawing games has been around a long time, French Surrealist André Breton and his group of artsy friends are credited with making Exquisite Corpse popular in the 1920s. They called it “Cadavre Exquis” and played it as a salon game to inspire creativity.

While most likely unaware of its highbrow history, many of us know this game and played it as children.

The game, done in sets of three players, starts with a piece of paper that is folded in thirds. Player #1 draws a torso in the middle section, then folds it over while leaving indications of a neck and legs on the blank sections. Player #2, without peeking, draws the head. The paper is then passed to Player #3, who, without peeking, draws the legs. Then, the paper is unfolded, showing the completed figure, which may surprise or delight.

Remember?

Guardino Gallery’s owner, Donna Guardino, does. “We’d gather around a table with our cousins and play that game when we were kids,” she says. “It was fun and cheap.”

“It could get kind of surreal, because you don’t know what the other person is doing,” she adds. “I was reintroduced at my (adult) son’s birthday party. I think the game is coming back again.”

At Guardino Gallery’s new show, local artists Dave Benz, Nanette Wallace and Karen Wippich will exhibit 11 Exquisite Corpses, taking turns at heads, torsos and legs. Also shown will be some of their individual works.

To give an idea of how Exquisite Corpse played out for them, here’s a breakdown of their “Hybrid Hands Waggle” process, which was the third in their series to be completed.

Benz, a visual artist who often refers to his collection of vintage photographs for inspiration, started with the torso, using walnut ink as his medium.

As per the process, nothing was discussed beforehand.

“For that one, I wanted to throw a curve ball,” he says. “I knew that putting on the head would be straightforward, but the bottom would be confusing.”

“At that point, we were pushing our ideas a little further,” adds Wallace, a printmaker who also paints in oil and acrylics. “This one was pretty nebulous,” she says about the bottom portion. “I just saw some dark and light shapes and it took me a little to do something to connect with that, and then I saw my cat rolling around. She has dark markings on her side and a light belly, and I thought it would be a nice connection with what Dave had made.”

Wippich, a collage artist, created the head. “I laid pieces on, and I went until it just felt right,” she says.

When the three opened the image, they found they all had created cat-related images.

“We just howled when we saw it,” Wallace says.

“I thought I was being sneaky. The cat person was a surprise,” Benz says, But maybe not so much, he adds. “We are all cat lovers.”

Wippich calls it a happy accident. “I thought it was awesome. ‘Holy cow! Dave and Nanette were on the same page.’ ”

At the opening, Guardino plans to get her guests involved. “I’ll put a table up, and have paper ready, and let the public make Exquisite Corpses,” she says.

“Exquisite Corpse: Dave Benz, Nanette Wallace and Karen Wippich”

When: Opening, 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 29; on view, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29-Sept. 22. Artists talk: 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14.

Where: Guardino Gallery, 2939 N.E. Alberta St.

Admission: Free.

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