Brief introduction
For how long has man felt the urge to draw? Centuries? Millennia? Eons? And how has he been drawing? What motivates him? Is it the freedom of using his hands after his progress to be able to walk on two legs and being able to observe and become conscious of his surrounding? Being able to draw is an activity which is unique for the human race.
The art of drawing has always been an integral part of human life. It has existed for as long as humanity itself. Such examples can be found in the lifestyle of contemporary primitive people as analogous to the artistic tradition of those who have vanished into the mists of time.
What does drawing literally mean? An outlining on a surface of shapes which can be enhanced by the application of close parallel lines, light and shade and so forth, or a form of visual expression and one of the major forms within the visual arts.
That we could do even before we learnt to communicate through speech and writing. Far from being a merely preparatory or peripheral medium of visual self-expression, drawing is the single most vital and productive artistic skill in general use today.
The simple truth is that drawing lies behind almost everything that we see or use in our daily lives. The cars we drive, the clothes we wear, the buildings we inhabit, the mobile phones with which we impoverish and infuriate ourselves – more or less every object in the modern built environment started out as a sketch on a designer’s drawing board.
Drawing has always been an essential tool for communication. Exploring; drawing as a Visual Representation, looking at the earliest cave drawings to the work of Rodin. Studying the role drawing has played in technical design and architecture, studying complex structures from Leonardo to Newton showing how drawing has been a crucial tool in the history of scientific and technological discovery. From drawings based on concepts- religious, narratives and intense documentaries to pure fantasy and humor.
Rather than attempting a chronological history, it seemed more apt to identify particular traditions of drawing as well as specific ways in which drawing has shaped human experience – and to take each line for a walk. So as well as looking at drawing as a visual representation, I explore drawing as a medium of scientific discovery, starring Alchemy, Leonardo da Vinci, Tycho Brahe and Newton. I also explore contextual drawings, based on themes and concepts that gain popularity through them, beyond, to fantasy and the world of cartoons; observing the close and intimate relationship between drawing and processes of the mind.
The objective of this project ‘Time Travelling Lines- Drawings’ is to highlight that drawing is a quintessential human activity through which we have evolved, in turn it evolved in itself. It is the basis of everything that is plastic. Through drawings we grasp the beauty of the world, its landscape, the flora and fauna; we understand our earth, its position in the universe, the universe itself and our life in it. It’s through them we know history, we plan a future, express an emotion and lose ourselves in fantasies which the eye can’t see but the mind can visualize.
Languages live, die, polymorph, move from place to place, and change with time. The language of line is the only language that has lived for as long as humanity itself and has been used, understood by our species irrespective of time, place or origin.
Hoping my quest answers how drawing has helped man to understand himself and his place in the universe.
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