Drawing

Is drawing the origin of all of the arts? A question put forward at a lecture given by Jean Luc French. Sorry, I don't remember his real name. Its not Picard though. Does drawing act as a map from which all other road come from? I'm not really sure how to answer this myself. I guess it depends on how general we are using the term of drawing. I wouldn't like to think that everything needs to begin from a visual translation. I suppose however, perhaps traditionally drawing is where everything began. For painting and sculpture, plans where made through drawing. Is everything else merely an extention, a translation of this humble beginning? Does this mean that drawing still has prevalence to all art works, or have we evolved enough for it to no longer matter?

Thoughts please.

Outlines

Thoughts which have occured after first reading through of 'Cezannes Doubt'. Merleau-Ponty explains through his essay that 'To trace just a single outline sacrifices depth - that is, the dimension in which the thing is presemted not as spread out before us but as an inexhausible reality full of reserves.' Cezanne does not use outlines within his work, rather his us of colour and brushstrokes allows forms to blend. My immediate thought as an opposite to this process is the Julian Opie works of the band Blur. I am just realising the severe irony of this title. Cezannes work is described as having a more correct view of the world, he depicts objects not 2-dimensionally, but records with the depth he views through movement. And yet, if I were to see a Cezanne piece and an Opie piece sat side by side in a gallery, it indeed would be the opie which caught my attention. Does this mean I am choosing t reject the world around me in favour of a simplified, understandable viewpoint? Obviously, there are other factors at work within my attraction, it is not just form, but content, particulatly in the given example which may seem more appealing. But the issues of fame would be put as equal, I could probably argue that Cezanne holds more than either Opie or Damon Albarn (it is his particular portrait of which I am thinking).

Familiarity

It is to my belief that the familar makes us feel safe. We take comfort in the knowledge of knowing what has happened before, and therefore will happen again. The unknown scares us. Ultimatley it seems we like being in control. The idea that something exterior is directing our existence is terrifying. And yet, we cannot always maintain this position of control. We find ourselves in situations that cannot be planned. I refer to my previous blog, in which I stated my indignance at not being in control. I believe, (and I am using myself as my only example for now) that people turn toward alterior familiar systems in order to make sense of what is happening the around them. I am thinking of popular culture. If one can link a situation they find themselves in to an existing piece of film, the situation immediantly becomes more acceptable as it has been recognised before. A line in a song may all of a sudden make sense of the context a person finds themself in, and because of which makes them feel better about the whole thing. Alternatively, film and music allows us to supress the uncomfortable world we find ourselves in and immerse ourselves in a beginning, a middle and an end that is preordained, that is not our existance and so therefore cannot affect us in a negative manner. When film and music becomes familiar to us, we can take comfort in it, it will always be there for us, never changing and maintaining the feeling it originally gave us.