What Happens When I Draw!
It's all about Drawing:
"its process, its role and its meaning, is unique in its shared and consistent use throughout history. To some extent it remains outside, or at least beside, this narrative. If it is seen as separate from art history, drawing can therefore be viewed in two ways: either as another means to participate in an art in crisis, or as a means to escape the boundaries of current aesthetic trends. Being bracketed off from the mainstream has facilitated the current popularity that reiterates its particular properties."
Downs,
Marshal, Sawdon,
Selby, Tormey, Tracey
Drawing
Now, Editors Argument, London, I.B.Tauris,
2007
I work in a variety of media and disciplines. My research in practice revolves around drawing. And in drawing I like to use my own hands in whatever I make. My desire has always been to make images, shapes to explore visual metaphors for my experience of realities. For me, the whole idea of Art practice and Education is that these should strengthen and complement each other. Art education should support the art practice and the art practice should then reflect back in the artist's education and educational environment or wherever the artist exists.
This website is a result of my research in practice in drawing. I have chosen to go for a digital and online submission for a few reasons. One of these is that there is more room for errors in a hand written text as compared to a digital one, and at the same time, it can be presented more professionally with a near perfection in digital format. Especially in a short span of time it was more practical to edit and re-edit by arranging and re-arranging ideas or tasks more quickly. Initially I thought of writing a journal more like that of Edward Hopper's, although his journal deals with the physicality of his work, but I fancy it for its classic look. An example of one of my random diary notes can be seen below; I wrote in flow but later I found it difficult to make it more presentable. After some thoughts and considerations, especially keeping contemporary drawing in mind, I preferred to go for something more modern, i.e., an online website. While practicing this methodology, I also realised this is an on-going process and can be adapted as part of a continuous art practice. There is an element of surprise in the findings themselves that I will elaborate upon in the relevant pages. I am also going to mention this in my findings.
Important Note:
This website is specifically designed for educational purposes and is meant to address my teachers at BCU. While I am writing these lines, this website is fully functional and working perfectly normally, but if you notice any abnormal behaviour or missing image, etc., please let me know. All random visitors should be aware that the content, including images, is strictly private and subject to copyright law. The use of any image for any commercial/non commercial purpose is prohibited without the permission of the author.
And the journey begins...!
The Background of my 'Drawing from imagination'
I had a strong basis in traditional figure drawing during my previous MFA in 1999. The stress on the thought process was much less than the drawing from life. We used to draw between 16-20 hours every week, and it was an integral part of the whole five-years course. Only in their final years, students were supposed to break free from traditions. The above (LHS) drawing in one of my third year's drawings; it was called ''This is your best drawing so far!'' by one of my teachers. By the time I was in my final year, some personal experiences changed my perspective and thought process. I started questioning 'What If' and I was a little worried about my future work. At that time, it was more about individuality or maybe working in a particular style that mattered. Despite being the happiest with what I had been doing previously, I wanted to change things to move on from that phase. The idea of 'keep drawing from life' started seeming impractical to me, and finally one day I remember standing at my work place. I thought about the process I had been following. I realised that at university, I was fantastically trained for drawing from an outer inspiration (my model/life), but was I as strongly trained in drawing from imagination or creating from scratch? At one occasion, in one of my pieces illustration work, I had to create some drawings of monkeys, I managed to draw tens of monkeys from memory, although I didn't observe them in detail before. Then I started asking questions of myself. What if I have to create something when I do not have my outer world with me anymore? What would I draw if my model leaves me? What if I can dig into my own inner world? What if I draw from within? In those years, I also wrote some poetry. But finally one day, there was this conscious moment of decision to move forward and draw something from the unconscious mind. That's how I got into my automatic drawings for the first time. I sat at my table and decided to draw something that I have never 'seen' before. To start a new journey at that point in time, I wanted to 'create'. I thought if I stop looking at Representational World, I will then be really Creating my own new world and from scratch. and maybe it can then bring individuality to my work. During that period, a solid understanding of Freud didn't exist at all. Through modern art studies, I was familiar with some Surrealists, however, but it was more about their work than the philosophy behind it. It was only after I found that there's been a whole Surrealist philosophy behind me. Although if I try to choose one artist that inspired me more than anyone else at that stage, it would be the 16th century Dutch master, Hieronymus Bosch.
