Drawings investigations: Graphic Relationships with Science, Culture and Environment.
Sarah Casey, Gerry Davies
In English. Softcover, 248 pages, 23.4 x 15.6 x 2 cm. Bloomsbury, February 2024.
Through detailed visual analysis of drawings, interviews with artists, critical analysis, and exegesis, Drawing Investigations examines how artists use drawing as an investigative tool to reveal information that would otherwise remain invisible and unnoticed. How does drawing give shape to ideas? How does the artist adapt to the challenges and constraints of a given environment? To what extent is a drawing complementary and continuous with its theme and to what extent is it disruptive and provocative? Casey and Davies address these issues by focusing on artists working collaboratively and using drawing in challenging or unexpected environments. Drawing Investigations evaluates the emergence of a way of thinking among a group of artists who would otherwise be disconnected, exploring similarities in the application of analytical drawing to the natural world, the urban environment, social forces, and lived experience.
Examples represent a spectrum of research in international contexts: an oceanographic institute in California, the archives of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Antarctic Survey, geothermal surveys in Japan, and the Kurdish diaspora in Iraq. The issues are situated in contemporary design theory and practice, including relations to historical precedents. By exploring drawing's ability to capture and describe experiences, enhance visual faculties, and bridge the gap between embodied and conceptual knowledge, Drawing Investigations offers a new critical perspective on contemporary drawing practice.
