After watching hyper normalisation I decided to create some more patterns however focussing more on the idea of ‘hyper reality’ and human self obsession. I looked at the obsession we have today in documentation of our lives such as on social media, and how like rituals this can consume us.

During this project, Adam Curtis’ new film ‘HyperNormalisation’ came out. I could easily say that this short films was one of the best things I had watched all year, It indroduced the concept of Hyper Normalisation in a way that incorporated current issues – such as Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump , I really liked the idea of a pseudo sense of reality that has grown with the modern age. A part of the documentary I felt especially interesting was the section on the very start of artificial intelligence and ‘cyber space’. Curtis explained how the first form of ‘artificial intelligence’ wasn’t intact artificial intelligence, it was a machine nicknamed ‘Eliza the Psychotherapist’ that essentially would relay all the information that the people who used the machine back to the user, like a therepist, however everyone who used the machine where fixated with it, even though they where intact giving themselves advice and guidance and not the machine. This notion inspired the next part of my project, as I thought it generally highlighted human self obsession – the people loved the machine so much as they loved the idea of talking about themselves.  

For the Next part of the project I produced a series of drawings called ”Frames of Perception”, I wanted to depict how rituals can become consuming on your state of mind, So I looked at taking some of the patterns I had generated in my ‘Ritual drawings’ and slot them into the frames of glasses.

I started to look more into rituals that I carry out and make them into drawings, I also thought about focusing on quality of line in my drawings and how they could be made into patterns.

The main thing that I took from the exploration of blind drawings, was the importance of memories and documentation, and recording your everyday surroundings in a way that is significant to you, regardless of the quality of the ‘Aesthetic’.

I found the concept behind this illustrators drawings really interesting, and I thought it related quite well to my own work – ”The use of drawing as a means of visualizing thought procsess is a central aspect of your artistic practice” I really liked how Gansterer explained how is main aim in drawing was not overall the finished aesthetic and was more of a pure form of communication. ”My practice is definitely not based on an attempt to illustrate something …. I am interested in drawing as a form of translation, actualisation and transformation.”

Upon reading this I was also introduced to the concept of ”Meta Drawing” , which is also how I would define a lot of my own practice – drawing not for the aesthetic but moreover as a translation of processes. Gansterer explains how his drawings are ”a medium of connection between these two disciplines or schools of thought – science and Art”. I believe that much of my drawings are an explanation of philosophy and art.

As a premise for the ‘blind’ drawings i created, I firstly looked at the power of being a creator and the ability one has to ‘escape the real world through drawing’ . As I am very interested in Philosophy, – Epistemology in particular, I drew comparisons to Early Greek philosopher Plato’s idea of ”The Realm of Forms” Presented in the Socratic dialogue of ‘The replublic’. Essentially through the Analogy of ‘The cave’ Plato Presents the idea that the World we reside in, and our perception of emotions and our surroundings is a mere illusion and a shadow of the ‘real world’ that is in its true ‘Form’ in the realm of forms. In short Plato denounces Empiricism as invalid, Thus I felt it appropriate to bring this idea into my work and think about through drawing and image making, one can create a ‘perfect realm’. Specifically i found this very relevant to my style of image making, as i do not partially excel in accurately depicting my surroundings from direct observation onto paper, i tend to ‘Create Ideals’ and when i draw i draw from just my imagination, or when i am drawing something in front of me, i enjoy editing it, and finding ways to make it visually more playful on paper.

I wanted to challenge this notion through ‘blind’ drawing, and experiment with taking away the control of being able to edify what i see in front of me, to explore a wider side of ‘What drawing is”.



These blind drawings document my weekly trip to London from Brighton

To kick start the project, I looked back through at a magazine I got from an exhibition in Leeds, That had a collection of different illustrators work, plus conversations with them, to investigate what there work was about and what drawing intrinsically meant to them.”Drawing requires time, attention to details, focussing on the whole, to be present in the moment, some use drawing to think, to sketch and brainstorm, others use it as a tool to visualise large concepts and ideas on paper or in space.”