Objective Drawing Device

An objective drawing device is one that attempts to place questions of representations out of the hands of the observer and instead captures what is truly present, as mediated through an impartial instrument or set of rules.

The device was constructed using the materials available – a wooden pole, a wooden doweling strip, some wire, nails, staples, masking tape, and some crayons. The materials directly affected the design and functionality of the device. It felt unnatural to approach the solution to the design in this way but on reflection the outcome was interesting and something that would otherwise not have been created.

To use the device the artist needed to face a wall onto which a sheet of paper was attached. This removed the artists physical ability to see the object to be represented. The artist was therefore entirely reliant on the descriptive skills of two assistants each of whom described what they could see. Any detail or precision was difficult to achieve using the device and the drawings made were abstracted responses to the given descriptions, depicted through the use of colour, stroke weight, and stroke direction.

Photo 19-10-2015, 15 25 45

Objective Drawing Device

Objective Drawing Device