Since childhood, drawing has been a constant method and medium of enquiry for me, a medium that is beyond the term ‘art’, that is an instinctive physical and perceptual response to phenomena. As such, it is a natural development for me to desire to understand this phenomenon, to question the act of drawing as a mode of communication that appears to be so suitable to my understanding. This has led to a period of research into the formal structures of drawing, to ask how abstract marks on a ground can be of use to our understanding. Developed to question the universal relevance of drawing, this study is a practice-led investigation into the formal tectonics of drawing practice. As such it charts a period of research that comprises a re-learning of the building blocks of drawing practice in an effort to better understand how drawing influences how we encounter the world or, how drawing structures visual perception. Part I begins by outlining the historical lineage of which this thesis is a continuance, positioning the research as a non-essentialist, moderate manifestation of the formalist position. Part I proceeds to employ drawing as an analytical tool, to compartmentalise a past drawing into seven distinct components, identified as united within the diversity of the drawing process. The seven components are not original in their connection to drawing, and therefore do not, by their mere presence, comprise an original contribution to knowledge. In fact it is the universal acceptance of the components as the formal scaffold on which most drawings are built, that enables a rigorous interrogation of their properties to be undertaken, further explored and developed so that an understanding of how these components structure the visual perception of the drawer can be reached. Adopting the seven components as seven separate lines of inquiry, Part II establishes the Components of Drawing. Each is subsequently analysed and extended through my practice, theory and pedagogy. Within this process drawing operates as the principal originator, developer and vector of the hypothesis, the core of the investigation being a heuristic analysis of the structure of drawing that mobilises the components of drawing from a subconscious by-product of process, to a conscious understanding of the purposiveness of each mark made. The study concludes with a reflection on the research period in response to the hypothesis outlining the original contribution to knowledge, before positing possible future areas for further research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:714852 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Monahan, Richard |
| Publisher | University of Wales Trinity Saint David |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/729/ |
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