TRACEY - Drawing Research.

A selection of questions from the Tracey Journal with my answers:

How is drawing as an experimental approach and attitude distinct from drawing as an outcome and discipline?

Drawing as an experimental approach and attitude is something I have begun to explore in depth recently. Allowing mark making and chance to dictate the pace and feeling in my drawing makes for interesting outcomes. By fully following through and committing to chance my drawing has advanced and become a vehicle for ideas. 

Drawing for an outcome or as a discipline becomes problematic when trying to work with the notion of chance. Having a pre-formed idea about a final outcome prohibits experimentation. 

In what way is it used as an analytic tool?

Drawing is an analytic tool in that it allows me to make a clear 'map' of the fabrics I am projecting through. I am able to criticise structures and make decisions regarding mark making. 

What is interesting or unusual about your own working processes?

What is unusual about my working processes is that my main specialism (knit) has now become a thinking tool and research process. In this I am now able to create pieces that 'speak' as loudly as I had hoped was possible in knitted samples. An interesting point is that knitting doesn't lead directly to drawing and mark making. 

Elijah Walton

Elijah Walton, 1867, Monte Marmorolo, Italy.

		This painting stood out for me on a recent trip to Birmingham Art gallery and Museum, firstly the sheer scale of the painting (2270mm high x 3220mm wide) is striking. Secondly, the mountains and the lake compared to the people in the boat gives an impression of just how large the subject matter is. Painting on this scale always intrigues me, was it painted on location? Was it drawn in mapped out squares or freehand?

Image available at <http://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/1885P2600>

Sky

After the flood

These images are a selection from one of the most moving books I have ever come across. They are all taken by photographer Robert Polidori, once most of the water had subsided following hurricane Katrina.

Images featured in the book After the flood:

Rosenheim, J. (2006) After the flood. London: Steidl

Stefan Emmelmann

Movement, 2008

Frank Pudney

People,  2011
Pencil on gesso board
127 cm x 82 cm

Pudney's artists statement sums up in a concise and eloquent way something I have been trying to convey myself.  His use of the words and phrases 'witness', 'force greater than ourselves' and 'appreciate our insignificance' are key concepts which I'm currently exploring, but responding to in a different way.

"People is the first of a growing sequence of drawings and paintings depicting crowds in a
moment of shared experience. Witnessing an event or force greater than ourselves, we are open
to appreciate our insignificance, despite our great and ever increasing number. Showing both
the comfort and safety felt in unity the image also suggests our alienation from one another, our
vulnerability and singularity.
The viewer is invited to become ‘lost’ in the texture and pattern of the image, despite the human
subject matter, challenging how we are able to view ourselves: as one, or as many"

Available at: <http://www.jerwoodvisualarts.org/page/3158/Jerwood+Drawing+Prize> [Accessed 16/11/2011]

Mark Lawrence

Untitled 1, 2010
Ink on discarded etching newsprint
62 cm x 46.5 cm

Mark Lawrence works with chance, he found this piece of discarded etching newsprint in the studio and responded to the marks already made on it. This enables him to complete works which would have been unlikely if left to his own devices.

Featured in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011

Available at: <http://www.jerwoodvisualarts.org/page/3158/Jerwood+Drawing+Prize> [Accessed 16/11/2011]