The David Diaries 2021

The David Diaries were executed during the corona pandemic. Platek began drawing during the first lockdown, in mid-March of 2020, depicting his newborn David as an intimate gesture of love to his son as well as to the practice of drawing. David was born just weeks before the first lockdown, and Platek, returning to an old artistic practice, began drawing him in his sketchbook.

The lockdowns were a time in which the household became a microcosm. As the functions of the house expanded, so did our outlook on the members of the household and the potential they carry. The baby’s environment is a domestic one, sheltering him from the world outside. In his first year, the house is his universe; as it came to be for so many during lockdowns.

The diary follows David out of the will to fully consummate the time spent with him in the present, to leave behind a concrete trace. The diary is populated by drawings of the baby on a uniform format of A4 pages, drawn in colored pencils (each in a distinct color: blue, red, orange, green). To draw is to tread a thin line, all the more so when the subject is a baby. One should exercise restraint, use lines sparingly and leave abundant place for spaces that play into the music of the act of drawing.

At some point, as David grew more active, Platek drew him only in his sleep. The regularity of the work came to be dictated by his sleeping times. Once the baby awakens, drawing must stop. This is how the two of them, in an instant, were simultaneously transported from one state to another. David From sleep to wakefulness, and Avishai from artist to father.