“The Pencil Is a Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists,” on-view through January 5, illustrates the power that drawing wields in political conflict. In 2016, Chinese artist Kontonhuang was detained by Guangzhou officials for writing graffiti on public property and committed to a “detention house.” While detained, Kontonhuang volunteered to draw portraits of family members for the inmate leaders, or “big bosses,” as a means of securing his own safety. Eventually he grew bored of drawing portraits and asked his family to print and mail him the entire text of the New Testament. Kontonhuang then selected his favorite Gospel passages, reinterpreting the narrative to reflect scenarios he imagined Jesus might encounter as a missionary in modern China.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ See more of Kontonhuang’s drawings in “The Pencil Is a Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists,” on-view in our Main Gallery and Drawing Room until January 5, 2020. Throughout the run of the exhibition, admission to The Drawing ...