Glove and Hand

The subjective basis of a drawing that concerns the observation of perception

Abstract

The article introduces the literary genre of autofiction as a means of self-debating drawings, and suggests the efficacy of this kind of writing as a means of articulating the ‘I’ of the drawing-based artist as subject within their work. After a brief introduction to autofiction’s history and theory, the body of the article concerns an example of autofiction written by the author to discuss the subjective basis of his drawing practice that concerns the observation of perception. This is followed by some indication of autofiction’s possible usefulness to other drawing-based artists. The autofictional narrative involves a conversation of a fictional character and his interlocutor friend concerning two drawings, with some academic reference embedded in the conversation. The main formal and conceptual component of the drawings, generated by factors of perception and particularly relating to the second of them, is a space left open between its first and second layer, which is interpreted according to Lacan’s theory of the Thing. Besides Lacanian theory, the article makes reference to Ricoeur’s hermeneutical theory of distanciation, and ends at a point of revelation, to the author, of distanciation in practice through a chance encounter with another artist’s own use of writing. It is suggested that this encounter is similar to how autofiction, if written by the drawing-based artists, may help them in relation to their visual work.