Joseph Drapell was born in Czechoslovakia and has lived in Canada since 1970. He studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan where he came in contact with Clement Greenberg, Michael Steiner and Jack Bush, among others. Close proximity to New York provided him with first-hand exposure to the work of Abstract Expressionists. As a painter, Drapell has demonstrated the continuing possibilities of abstraction, experimenting with layers of colour and changing the way he handles paint. In 1972, he began using an oversize scraper to apply paint and has since used this method to achieve different effects.

Zoning is one of many works in which Drapell uses his scraper to create a circle. He deliberately draws attention to the tension between the rectangular canvas and the circular gesture. The thin layers of pink and purple, combined with the ridges imbedded in the paint, seem to radiate from the centre, creating a work that is almost hypnotic in effect.