As artists have found throughout the centuries, the attraction of drawing is its pragmatism, the fact that the pencil can be a constant companion and a way to give instant gratification to the impulse to create. It is also an exceptionally flexible tool for artists seeking to develop a new direction or language. In various guises, drawing offers alternative routes for experimentation – its versatility partially due to its association with commercial art forms such as comics, advertising, graphic art and caricature, as well as its usage within related fields, for example architecture and mathematical or systems analysis. It is also adaptable for applying itself within different technologies, for example the digital realm, and can be translated to three-dimensional forms. In my view, the parameters of drawing’s remit are set by the flexibility with which artists articulate its role within their practice rather than how theorists or curators have positioned it within the history of art, revealing a multifaceted and constantly changing discipline. Drawing’s heterogeneity has been cited as a reason why it is hard to classify it as a medium[i], yet perhaps it is this single characteristic that continues to give it such currency.
This relevance as a contemporary artform is exemplified in the variety and inventiveness found across over 1200 drawing submissions for the 17th Annual Drawing Discourse exhibition, and it has been both a pleasure and a predicament to make the final selection from such a strong field. Drawing is ubiquitous - we all draw in some form from an early age as an essential part of our cognitive development - and so I still find it extraordinary how each one of us finds a unique mode of representation. Whilst every selection is subjective, I set out to be guided by three principles,
· Representation the variety of style and approach to drawing
· Acknowledgement of the virtuosity of the technique used
· Appreciation of the originality of concept and application
Common themes also emerged in this edition, such as the detrimental impact of humanity on the natural environment, and the manifestation of inner struggles, whether due to health or other barriers, which I felt important to represent. To further narrow down the selection, I sided with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who counselled against artworks as imitations of nature, likening these to ‘waxworks’[ii]. Therefore, I prioritised pieces that I feel transcends conventional representations of an observed subject and makes me think or feel something different to an everyday encounter with the world around me. This is the purpose of art; it allows us to see, feel and think through the world anew, sometimes making us laugh, other times making us feel uncomfortable. I believe the works in this exhibition do this in a myriad of ways; they both celebrate and challenge the contemporary condition, and above all they reaffirm the distinct qualities of drawing as an enduring means of visual expression.
-Katharine Stout[i] See Ed Krcma, ‘Time Held Up’, Motion Drawing: Drawing and the Moving Image, exh. cat., Lewis Gucksman Gallery, Cork 2012, p.9: ‘Drawing, however is perhaps too heterogenous a category to be classed as a medium.’
[ii] Samuel Taylor Coleridge, On Poesy or Art, 1818, https://viscomi.sites.oasis.unc.edu/viscomi/coursepack/coleridge/Coleridge-On_Poesy_or_Art.pdf, p. 4 [accessed 3 August 2025].