Artist Spencer Dormitzer

You Don't Have To... If You Need To...

Date2017

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsPaper Size: 30 × 22 in. (76.2 × 55.9 cm)

Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection

Object numberDCCAH2018.008.2

ClassificationsDrawings

Locations

District Department of Transportation (250 M Street SE)

DescriptionSpencer Dormitzer’s drawings focus on creating difficult, intricate, broken narratives connected to a simple image—a circle, square, rectangle—with marks of scribbles, the feeling of hair, or the sense of being there. Layers of complex characters overlay each other, forming a frenetic conversation among themselves. The titles of these three pieces were inspired by a conversation between the artist and his five-year-old son, during which the boy paused mid-discussion, sat in deep thought, and exclaimed very calmly and confidently, “You don’t need to… If you have to…”