Monday, February 6, 2012

Silly exercise.

A buddy from Cooper Union told me that one of his teachers had this exercise where they would take sheets of white paper and draw one line and then copy it hundreds of times on the same piece of paper. This is a way to train the mind to copy and repeat, well that's the idea. Now in theory this mechanical approach to drawing should work. "IN THEORY COMMUNISM WORKS, MARGE, IN THEORY" as Homer would say. This reminds me of Chuck Close saying in an interview that he has no love for painting, it is purely mechanical for him. So how do you learn to draw better if you don't love it?  How does drawing a line (just a line), so minimal, help you draw better? Well, it doesn't. Me thinks this abstract exercise came from a person who doesn't really practice drawing but practices thinking about other people drawing and isn't really good at it. PONDER AWAY FRIEND! Maybe this is like some shaolin monk standing on one leg on the steps leading to the temple for 3 days. err it makes him really good at standing on one leg?

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