robbiekarmel

These were drawn using the projection process I used in the previous post, I should have some videos up tomorrow.

I have also been writing a lot during the residency, I plan on starting to post some of what I’ve been writing. At the moment a lot of what I’ve written lacks structure and needs a good edit. I have writen a short piece for the upcoming Fine Lines exhibition:

Line

In using line I am searching for an empathetic mark. Making marks with pencils or other objects is one of the oldest and most primal forms of expression and communication. It is also something that almost everyone will do from very early on in their lives.

Drawing gives an incredibly intimate and immediate record of the movement, speed, and pressure of the hand and body. It is not a purely cerebral or visual act; the eyes, mind and hand all work in unison to create a drawing. It is a process that may rely heavily on kinesthetic awareness or tactility. Drawing can be an incredibly physical process, and the physical activity is often evident in the outcome.

Lines build up on surfaces over time, chronology can be read from layers of marks, carrying with then the speed at which they were made, the time span of the drawing and the energy of the drawer. A drawing is a record of its own making, describing the movements of the creator as if it were a choreographic record. This can also engage with the viewer empathetically, their memory and understanding of mark making, even if rudimentary or unconscious, should allow them to understand and even feel the actions of the maker.

Line, while an incredibly simple tool, has an incredibly rich and broad visual language. Marks can be used to describe silhouette, contour, surface, light and shade. A single line from a 2B pencil may describe the silhouette of a nose and lip, the shade above the chin, the contour of a cheek and end as the heavy and gestural description of a hair. Such lines can often form complex and seemingly chaotic passages, intersecting and changing over the surface of the paper, while still ultimately forming a coherent representation of the subject.

Marks and lines have the capacity to engage viewers on much more than just a visual level— extending to memory, tactility, kinesthetic awareness and spatial awareness.