Slow drawing : desenho para uma via contemplativa

Abstract

What is the contribution of a contemplative attitude in contemporary drawing practice? To what extent could this approach in the drawing process, with its own distinct temporality, serve as an antidote to acceleration and hyper-digitalization? We discuss these questions in terms of being and making with attention to the present, ideas we problematize by delving into theories about drawing, phenomenology, meditation, Zen philosophy, and different conceptions of time—from kairos to the recent slow movements. At the heart of the investigation lies the definition of the concept of slow drawing as an attitude, its characteristics, and its potentialities. More than just a reaction to the speeding up of time, the mobilized understanding of slow is a hypothesis to develop a more contemplative drawing posture. A set of characteristics belonging to this posture is outlined and reinforced through the analysis of the processes of eight contemporary artists, among them, Antonio López, Vija Celmins, and Pedro A. H. Paixão. They all share drawing methodologies related to an expanded and conscious notion of time, as well as a focus on the experience of alterity between the artist and the world in which they practice, based on the intentionality that underpins their experience. We suggest that silence, attention, the controlled action of the hand, repetition, continuity, and reflective pauses can be employed as facilitators of a state of flow and create a cohesive element between the practitioner and the drawing under construction. In the midst of the discovery of the plastic impact of artificial intelligence, we argue that this attitude in drawing should be considered in future artistic practice and education. In its contemplative quality, drawing can contribute to the development of cognitive, inventive, cathartic, and ethical dimensions, acting within its own time and, above all, enabling us to address fundamental aspects of existence.