If you asked most people what drawing was, they would probably give an answer involving paper, pencils, maybe even charcoal or crayons.
They’re not wrong!
However, I have a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Drawing #BRAG and I can tell you that when I started my degree I was immediately hit with a much more philosophical approach that completely altered the way I think.
The head of the course (Angela) encouraged us to push the boundaries of what could be considered drawing. She gave an example of a motorbike spinning its wheels in gravel to create marks being drawing.
I’ve heard it said a few times, that a degree in art is a degree in bullshitting. I have thoughts on that, but I’ll get to that later.
What if you’re a Drawing student, but you use clay to create pottery with marks/illustrations incorporated into the piece? Is that drawing?
What if you glued 500 sheets of A4 together and punched a crater into it over time leaving blood stains and tears? Is that drawing?
What if you used paint? Or would that just be a painting? But then, what if you ‘painted’ exclusively with fruit juice? Is that still painting?
All of a sudden the borders of these things become very blurred and less certain once you start really thinking about it and using your imagination to challenge definitions and push the limits of what these things could be.
It’s fun!
During my three years at university I experienced the Socratic paradox and also an aspect of the Dunning-Kruger effect, best described in these two quotes:
Albert Einstein: Often quoted as saying, “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”
Socrates: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.“
This frequently happens to people who embark on education and it’s why some experts will refuse the title of ‘expert’ even if they are one!
I don’t like to call myself an artist (even though I work as one and have an art degree) I’m certainly no expert, but I enjoy learning and thinking about things, so when the question was asked:
‘What is drawing?’
My 19 year old mind exploded a little!
I realised that this way of thinking applies to EVERYTHING! If it can be justified, the tutors at my university would listen… and also critique.
This is where the bullshit comes in.
Imagine being told you’re going to an exhibition of drawings, then once you get there you’re faced with sculptural pieces, pottery, video projections, performance and yes, even some pencil on paper.
You might think wtf is this nonsense? This isn’t drawing!
But it is! If you’re willing to listen to the artist, loosen your own ideas about what drawing can be, put in a little effort and try to understand what’s being communicated.
You might be surprised at how much a piece speaks to you and change your mind. It’s not bullshitting, its persuasion and an ability to make others view things differently.
This is what art does. When I say art, I mean all art, fashion, photography, drawing, writing, painting, sculpture, graffiti, print, architecture, absolutely everything.
It finds ways to communicate via different mediums and challenges your preconceptions.
It also allows people to think beyond our own self made constraints to create new concepts and push culture/humanity forwards. It conforms, destroys, rebuilds, creating new definitions and then the cycle begins again.
At least that’s what I learned.
I realised too that this way of thinking and creativity isn’t limited to art, scientists think this way too!
The clearly defined borders we have in science, physics, chemistry and biology are bound to have overlap.
Most people’s education level is going to be basic. That’s not a read, it’s a simple fact.
My physics knowledge isn’t good compared to someone with a degree and above and I bet those that have that level of education also experienced the Socratic paradox.
Humans are creative and inquisitive, we like to understand the world using science to record and catalogue everything. But sometimes language and categories aren’t quite right, so we need to realise that not everything is an absolute, some things are an approximation or just a sign post, subject to change.
In my opinion, this is merely an attempt by humanity to understand the world and it requires consensus to cement that reality, so sometimes there’s conflict… but it also means that at some point in the future, we could collectively change our minds.
We literally shape our own reality by agreeing to adhere to a collective idea via language.
But when those ideas are challenged, when somebody with imagination steps outside of reality/normality and say’s:
‘Actually, drawing can be this too’
There’s usually resistance for a number of reasons. The simplest is usually because since birth, most people are told ‘this is the way it’s always been’ which is a terrible reason not to try and change things.
So when you start learning more about the world, questioning definitions, moving on to higher education, you may realise that the things you think are certainties really aren’t! They also have the potential to change into something else if enough people can be persuaded.
No boundaries or definitions are as solid as we’d like to think they are, even at the subatomic level, when we touch things, when we pick up a cup, our hands merge with the cup but we don’t realise. That is real.
That might be quite a frightening and destabilising realisation. What do you do with that knowledge?
Some may reject it, put their fingers in their ears and cling to what they learned in school, which allows a much simpler world view of absolutes. Whereas others who embrace the uncertainty and fluidity of reality will probably find they’re able to adapt and accept new ideas and concepts with no fear.
I know which way of thinking I prefer.
Apply it to gender, race, sexual orientation, humans, animals, plants! We’ve invented so many words and ways to separate ourselves and for what?
The lines aren’t fixed, people can change things for better or worse and this is the battle we’re all currently fighting.
Open your mind.
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