Drawing on Truth
“If this work seems so threatening, this is because it isn't simply eccentric or strange, but competent, rigorously argued, and carrying conviction.”
- Jacques Derrida.
I have always felt that the act of drawing in pursuit of an idea represents an unfolding emergence in the search for truth. Truth in the terms of how it appears to ourselves, as in the fidelity of our individual standard of measure.
To begin, fully conscious of the task ahead, we find empty paper and an anxious mind. With infinite options out back and upfront, laden in doubt, we hunt for some sort of beginning through the most haptic task of our craft - drawing.
As architects, what we search for is often wrapped up in words like ‘concept’ or ‘vision’, but it is never that easy. It is more akin to an emotion or sentiment that you need to make visible. A vision would imply that you’ve already ‘seen’ the finale and that’s not the way it works.
Rather, you are searching through drawing for a ‘feeling’ that when it emerges and stares back at you, you see it ‘visually’ for the first time. Yet, the sensual impression is familiar - a reference to memory, a sort of déjà vu.
Sometimes what you find in an idea can feel euphoric and bring into sharp focus the pleasure of your existence for a short while. So this contented feeling surges through you and you know that you’ve made something. And that something starts to define you a little and reveals much more about who you are.
Congratulations. You’ve brought an idea into the world - you’ve found truth.
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