Drawn to Time, selected by guest curator Susan Kemenyffy, accompanies the Drawing Research Network‘s 2021 Temporal Drawing series of research presentations organised by the Drawing Research Group (DRG) at Loughborough University. We invited submissions to the call for drawings in response to the theme of ‘temporal drawing’ suggesting that temporality is not only inherent in drawing, both as a process and as a product, but is also its fundamental condition. We consider that to draw is to draw inescapably in and of time. If to make a mark is to capture the trace of a gesture, then mark-making reveals the movement of time - of the living present becoming past, and of the past contracting into the present. And so, we asked: how can we explore the time of drawing? How does time prompt us to think differently about drawing? Submissions were invited from anyone practicing drawing in a traditional or expanded way and we received over 370 drawings from artists across the globe in response. We would like to thank all who supported the exploration of this theme and to extend a special thank you to Susan for her committed and attentive approach to the selection and curation of the exhibition.
Phil Sawdon, ‘thematic material’, video, 2021.