Show and Listen Drawing 2 Part One.

I will now explain a bit about the second drawing that was made for the Show and Listen presentation, (See Show and Listen )

This drawing feels quite symbolic to me, which I believe is quite clear from the way in which it was presented, as mentioned during the show and listen, I felt it necessary to show these two drawings in close proximity, as I wanted their relationship to be clear.

 

As I mentioned this drawing has a symbolism, this symbolism is directly linked to why I am doing the MA. Since approximately 2010 my work has almost exclusively worked within self controlled, strict physical and emotional  parameters, (which can be read about here ), these parameters can be characterised as practical bodily and emotional restraints that I have imposed upon myself, Where I have limited myself to singular marks that remain at approximately the same size and shape, which is physically demanding, performing repetitive small actions over and over, and demanding each mark be clearly separated has induced Carpal syndrome and various associated problems (my eye sight, shoulders, posture, etc have all now been effected to the extent that when attempting to rectify these problems I experience physical pain. I also frequently suffer headaches which may be linked to this work and I have developed relatively abnormal muscles in my hand.) 

by exploring new physical approaches to mark making my intention is to release myself from this physical experience that has almost become an embodied knowledge. 

The emotional restraint in these previous works is directly linked to the self control that I have had to place upon myself in my daily life. Where in the past I rarely exerted any self control on myself, which has caused lasting damage, during the starting point of these works I was also examining my life and trying to learn how to remake my emotional personality. which has taken an enormous amount of effort, but has also in itself been very damaging. like the works, I had literally and figuratively isolated myself emotionally, spending 7 years so far and making noticeable progress in the last 5, I have been examining singular aspects of my life and exploring their relationships in proximity to other aspects, eventually beginning to create a larger whole self knowledge. The issue with this activity was that in trying to understand myself I had become increasingly solipsistic, in trying to find some impossible full self knowledge, I overlooked what I am coming to know as the self other dialectic ( I will return to this in a later post). in examining myself as an isolated individual, or 'Being-for-itself' (Sartre 1943) I allowed my understanding of my 'Being-for-Other' (Sartre 1943 to atrophy.

(I have to state now that in these times of partial 'realization' my research and understanding of existentialism, logotherapy, etc is relatively limited, so my quoting of Sartre's phrases is from this limited perspective, and their use must be understood as the best way I have currently  found to describe my 'realizations' and not my absolute alignment, I have not learned enough to be so definitive.)

I believe with this information, when looking back at my older works (here) the symbolism is plain to see, thus by extension the development of my new works takes on symbolic status, that to me seems very clear.

 

 'Show and Listen 2'

2014

Ink on Paper

I think it is now necessary to explore the origins of how I arrived at this work.

Though I believe that by looking at the works presented here

in relation to what has been written above we are able to see the chronology of my overall thinking, I find that there are particular works that serve best as a means of exploring the sketches that lead to this particular work. I also feel that I am able to engage with this process in reference to a larger context if I follow this thread in the way that it is becoming clear to me.

In an attempt to reduce the amount of isolation that I had imposed upon myself I decided to attend a figure drawing group in my local area, other than the social aspect of doing this, I was also interested in the idea of drawing for drawings sake, to enjoy my passion for drawing in its raw form, without any greater reason than to feel the joy of looking, making marks and building those marks into a network that goes some way to describing what has been seen. In retrospect this reminds me of the initial statement in John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing' (1972)

"Seeing comes before words. The Child looks and recognises before it can speak. But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight..." (Berger 1972, p.7)

I quickly found myself becoming frustrated by trying to use traditional figure drawing techniques and trying to recreate the actual model in the drawing, which I was also well aware was impossible. In my defence, it had been a very long time since I had done any sort of still life drawing.

My reaction to this frustration was an acceptance of what Berger (1972) refers to in the quote above, I accepted that any description I attempted would always be partial. The marks that were placed on the page were representations of an observation and a physical reaction. 

This led to me consider that moment of observation and the subsequent reaction did not necessarily need to be connected to the pre/proceeding marks, they could be exist as single causes and effect and only after the mark was made could any relationship start to form. It would be difficult to ignore the link to cubism's multiple view point technique, though only after I began to try this technique did this link begin to form.

'Selective viewing figurative drawing'

2014

Pencil on paper.

 I also find it interesting to note that through my resent research that there is a link to Kandinsky's concept of  "new symphonic constructions" (Kandinsky 1911)

"As examples of the new symphonic composition...

They represent three different sources of inspiration:

(1) A direct impression of outward nature, expressed in purely

artistic form. This I call an "Impression."

(2) A largely unconscious, spontaneous expression of inner

character, the non-material nature. This I call an

"Improvisation." 

(3) An expression of a slowly formed inner feeling, which

comes to utterance only after long maturing. This I call a 

"Composition." In this, reason, consciousness, purpose, play

an overwhelming part. But of the calculation nothing appears,

only the feeling. Which kind of construction, whether

conscious or unconscious, really underlies my work, the

patient reader will readily understand." (Kandinsky 1911, p.55-56)

I believe these new life drawings are what Kandinsky calls "Impression" where the external is responded to and an impression of the subject matter is expressed in the singular observation and mark but then there is a shift after these initial impressions where those marks are considered in what I think is a little like the "Composition". At a later date those raw lines are worked into, lines are picked out and exaggerated, shading informed by instinct not by any actual light source.

continued... 

Bibliography.

Sartre, J P., 1943. Being and Nothingness. Paris: Editions Gallimard. 

Berger, J.,1972. Ways of Seeing. Great Britain; British Broadcasting Company.

 Kandinsky, W., 1911. Concerning the Spiritual in Art. [http://www.semantikon.com/art/kandinskyspiritualinart.pdf]