“I think it is a record of the workings of thought that we see embedded in the drawn, in the sense that it is both the actions of which Valery speaks as ‘willed attention’ ” (Avis Newman)
Avis Newman’s ideas on drawing remind me of Merleau Ponty’s use of the example of two halves of an orange, to represent the conscious and the unconscious. The inbetween point where you are neither in one state nor the other can be achieved by various means. One of the ways that this can be achieved is through drawing as it is a very immediate activity and all that is needed is pencil and paper.
Language can be limiting in terms of expressing abstract concepts such as these. The creation of a visual language through drawing and mark making has the potential to express such concepts in a transparent manner.
