DRAWING INTO BEING | STILLNESS AND MOVEMENT

‘Drawing into Being | Stillness and Movement’ is a research project founded upon my personal experiences of the non-duality of Stillness and Movement, explored using the process of drawing as a meditative state of Being. This paper supports a studio-based research project that produces a body of work, resulting in exhibition examination. This project aims to substantiate and integrate the unifying dynamics of mind|body inherent in art practice as an experience of Being, revealing the merging of materiality, physicality and spirituality in the studio to be a vibrant process. The hypothesis posed, is when art practice is an experience of Being the resultant materiality has more chance of embodying the vibrancy of its production. Central to this research is the concept of Being in creativity, viewed through the theme of stillness|movement as a metaphor for all interrelated opposites pertaining to the gamut of human experience. My studio work is approached through Zen Buddhist and Taoist philosophies of non-duality, which informs an analysis of contemporary knowledge and practices that deal with metaphysical representation. Specifically, I engage an examination of artists that employ the art form as an ontological paradigm—a form embodying the formless experience of Being. This research evolves the premise that the dual aspects of Being—mind|body, form|formlessness, self|world, stillness|movement—are ultimately interdependent and interconnected, thus unified in their intrinsic expression of wholeness. This helps to develop my understanding that my own studio activity is a daily practice manifesting this unifying aspect—a meditative and exploratory experience with vibrant materiality. The challenge of this project lies in the development of an aesthetic, a wholehearted visual language to communicate this experience of unity in the final body of work