behind the image, the imagination ---Mong-Lan

Tango drawings from Mong-Lan's latest book, Tango, Tangoing: Poems & Art

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In my pen & ink drawings, I try to capture the flow of the tango, the movement during these moments in a dance. The gesture of a certain step, a certain feeling, a certain note of nostalgia, longing, and perhaps love. When couples are dancing their best, I see shapes of two people, dancing as one during these moments in time and space. No moments are ever the same. The only constant is that it is always changing, in the dim light around the dance floor. The soul of the tango, the changing forms, the shifting movements. It has taken me all my life to come to this point of simplicity. And here you see an instant of those years.

My technique has evolved from many years of doing figure drawings of people and nudes. Having lived in Tokyo for five years, I was surrounded by Japanese calligraphy, writing and characters aesthetically drawn, everywhere. Having this around me was amazing. I only understood about half of it, but the fluidity of the writing was impressive, and flowed as easily as dance.

Two people locked in an embrace, dancing. Bodies intertwined. Flowing, on paper, dancing forever.

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