Genesis : into being

The MFA thesis work discussed in this paper consists of eight drawings, each of which portrays an entity within the limited environment of the artist. For the artist the creation of the drawings entailed an exploration into the metaphysics of his tangible surroundings and extensive experimentation with the sensual qualities of a rarely used medium. The drawings were done on mylar, a material with qualities similar to fine paper but far superior to paper in its ability to mate with graphite and pastel, the materials used to create the work discussed here. Mylar is a plastic film, the surface texture of which is finely controlled during its manufacture and is very uniform. Drawing on this surface is quite different from drawing on paper. The pencil point does not intrude into the surface as with paper, rather the tooth of the mylar files away the graphite point. The value of a drawn line on mylar is extremely sensitive to the pressure with which it is applied