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Apophenia

16th Sep 2010 | Subscribe via RSS

I came across this word recently and had no idea what it meant. Looking it up I discovered that it meant finding meaning in random and meaningless data or phenomenon. So on one level it is reading connections between events and then believing them to be the result of say the paranormal. However on a visual level it can mean seeing a recognizable image within part of what otherwise would be considered as random marks. Like animals in clouds or faces in the markings on fruit. This form of apophenia also has its own name – pareidola.
I mention it as it is something I find often occurs when people look at my work. I think we all look at things and try to find something recognizable that we can describe even when it might not be there. People comment that my drawings look like, folding fabric, insects, bacteria, oceanic amoeba but really they are none of these things.
I would not describe them as representations of any objects rather the reflections of mood and time. The changes that occur as time ebbs and flow; if it can do that but that is another whole philosophical debate. They are meditations, the result of sitting and just drawing with little thought of the outcome just finding energy in the process.

2 Responses

Jim
24th Sep 2010

Dear Emma,

You say you have little thought of the outcome while in the process of drawing, but does that mean at the end you are not thinking aesthetically, about changes possible? At any point do you revise you meditations?

I find it interesting, because I think with any pursuit like drawing, or acting, or writing or even studying – at some point what you are doing, let’s call it your method, self-consciousness kicks in : in different degrees, and what feels raw or natural becomes more artificial, and then you have to change.

Can you relate in any way to this?

Jim

I would be interested to know because, your drawings seem to be about what they are

Emma C Tabor
13th Oct 2010

Hi Jim
I appreciate your interest and comments. I guess there does come a point where too much thought would make the work artificial and that is something to become aware of.

In any one work I do not think or review that often, may be once or twice about how it is going, is it time to expand or contract an element otherwise I just go with the flow of what is happening.

But I will review each drawing and that tends to pose the question of what to try next, or that I like a section and see how it may respond to a slightly different treatment. So in the next work I may try that out, such as altering the thicknesses of line, or the densities of the lines.

I also consider it from an asthetic standpoint and some drawings do not seem to work, but of course they are not here! However the act of drawing them is still benifical even if I’m not happy with the results.

In a way it becomes like learning the nuances of a new language, how to put it together and each drawing is part of that process. Once it becomes too repetative or forced that will definately be the time for something different.

I have been trying out some related ideas in a new set of drawings and hopefully they will be up here soon.

Cheers
Emma

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