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Automatic Art [PICS]

  
 
electric monk
11:54 / 06.11.06
"An "automatic" scribble of twisting and interlacing lines permits the germ of an idea in the subconscious mind to express, or at least suggest itself to the consciousness. From this mass of procreative shapes, full of fallacy, a feeble embryo of idea may be selected and trained by the artist to full growth and power. By these means, may the profoundest depths of memory be drawn upon and the springs of instinct tapped.

Yet, let it not be thought that a person not an artist may by these means not become one: but those artists who are hampered in expression, who feel limited by the hard conventions of the day and wish for freedom but have not attained to it, these may find in it a power and a liberty elsewhere undiscoverable."

From an Essay on Automatic Drawing by A.O. Spare and F. Carter

I've never been very good at drawing. My skills with a pencil and pen are miniscule, but I've found that when I kept at it and practiced every day, I could produce some fairly decent stuff. Now, it's been a couple of years since I really sat down to draw something, and I'm afraid if I rush right in I'll only be disappointed with the results and give up. But watching the Drawing Salon thread develop has inspired me to start, and I figured the best way to ease back in without getting overly judgemental of myself was to do some automatic drawing. Just to get the feel for making lines again and, hopefully, surprise myself with something decent.

So I'm putting them here, and I'd encourage others to do the same. I didn't think automatic drawings would fit in any of the other "share your art" threads, because I'm not sure what kind of critiquing one can do with a drawing of this type. I'd like us to try to figure that out as we go along. If nothing else, this thread can be a repository for our auto-works. Any work of art that generally follows the principles of Surrealist Automatism is welcome here.

Here's one of mine*:





I mostly get faces or bodies or parts of bodies when I do this work. I'm not sure what that means or even if they are faces that I'm seeing (I tend to see faces in random textures and scrawls and such. "Matrixing" I think it's called).

Care to share? Talk about theory or methodology?

---------

Another link for your perusal -

Joel Biroco's "What is an automatic drawing?"



*There woulda been more, but Photobucket's being a jerk right now.
 
 
Olulabelle
21:24 / 06.11.06
Monk there's something really strong about that imagery. It's a person - a man with a big nose but like a Belleville Rendesvous character, but also the 'face space' has letters and characters in it. A musical note perhaps?

I think the most important thing about automatic drawing is the doing of it, and assessing it yourself afterwards. How does it make you feel? What does it say to you personally? Anything? Can it tell you anything or lead you anywhere interesting?
 
 
electric monk
11:41 / 07.11.06
It looks to me as if the main figure (the nose-ish thing with L-feets) is walking thru a jumbled landscape, pushing thru confusion. Behind the main figure, there's that empty space with a lightly delineated spirit person. The spirit is urging the figure on and supporting it. The "head area" on the main figure reminds me of a Skekses laughing, and there seems to be some tubing curving up to the mouth.

I really like that there's that bit of calm set aside in an otherwise chaotic composition. That says "rest" and "hope" to me.
 
 
Papess
12:21 / 07.11.06
I recently tried this, monk. I must commend you on your ability to let go and do this. I must be way too critical of my artwork because I just wouldn't stop interfering with the process. Thank you for those links , though. I am going to give them a read, because this is clearly something I need to work on.

Cheers!
 
 
electric monk
11:43 / 08.11.06
I must be way too critical of my artwork because I just wouldn't stop interfering with the process.

I experienced the same feeling when I initially started doing these things. I found it helps to focus concentration on the point where pen meets paper, relegating the rest of the page to peripheral vision. Like meditation, when that single-pointedness breaks, gently guide yourself back to it. This keeps me from looking at the lines I'm making as a composition, thus tamping down any feeling that "this doesn't look right, maybe if I put a bit in here". It's just a line I'm making (or possibly a predetermined line that I'm uncovering), and I'm better able to let the line go wherever it wants.
 
  
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