I did not find Hito Steyerl's article very convincing. In this article Steyerl
Gish gallops the reader with many post-modern talking points and non-sequiturs.
According to Steyerl, one point perspective is an antiquated and flawed model
of reality. One point perspective is predicated on serveral assumptions such as
a flat and level horizon, one point of observation, etc. Steyerl suggests that
since its invention, one point perspective has been done away with; in favour of
newer and better forms of perspective which do away with needless assumptions.
In the section "The Downfall of Linear Perspective," Steyerl sites a painting by
Turner and suggests that this picture does not make the assumptions of one point
perspective. This is not true. One point perspective is a technology used to create
pictures, just like tubed paint and paint brushes are a picutre-making technology.
One point perspective is the basis of all forms of perspective that came after it
in art history. There is no J. M. W. Turner without one point perspective. Though
the horizon is obsured, that does not mean it does not exist in the mind's eye
of the artist. It is also true that there are other forms of perspective that do not
the assumptions of one point perspective. However, these assumptions must be replaced
by other ones. Thus, the entire premise of the article is false. We are not in "free fall."
Every theory is based on some assumptions and every measurement must be made relative
to something. It is impossible to have a system of representation that is "groundless."
2025-11-3
Last weekend, I visited a park a little bit outside the city with my dad and my
brother. I made this quick landscape sketch of the river and some trees. Sometimes
it can be effectice to shade following the contours of the form, but other times
it can be effective to shade in the same direction all across the form. I think
this meathod can be effective for far away object or low contrast objects like
I did with the hills in the background of this drawing.
2025-10-27
This week I spent some time doing an exersize I have not done in a while but
I used to do alot. The exersize is to draw abstractly and intuatively. To
explore the kinds of marks your drawing-tool can make and to discover what kinds
of abstract pictures you can make. I discovered this exersize when I was in
highschool and I would make hundreds of little abstract drawings with a Sharpie
or a pencil. I find it very therapeutic to draw without any end goal in mind.
2025-10-21
For the popcorn exercise I was not trying to make something that looked like
popcorn. Instead, I was focusing on studying the forms and the shadows of the
popcorn. I think our minds have an idea what popcorn looks like. I picture
a cartoonish platonic ideal of what a popcorn looks like in my minds eye.
But in observational sketching, we have to remember to draw what we see and
not what we think something looks like.
2025-10-10
I went for a walk in the agracultural area of the university. I had never been
in this area and it felt strange walking there because it felt like I was walking
in the middle of the country side even tho I was in the middle of the city.
I found this weather measuring apparatus and decided to draw it. I reminds me of
something from Star Wars or Tales from the Loop by Simon Stålenhag. I love the asymetry
of the design and the utilitarian forms. Sometimes the best sculptures are not
created by artists.
2025-10-03
View from the front steps at my house. The brain wants to see things in
elevation, like the front of a building or a face. But we almost always see
things from many different angles. I think I screwed up the perspective in this sketch
because in reality, I was looking at the ground from a much shallower angle.
2025-09-23
I drew this sketch when we were at The Forks. It is a view of a building from
across the river. Trees are difficult to draw this time of year because the
colour of the leaves varies in colour from dark green to bright yellow. In
greyscale, it becomes hard to differentiate shadow from dark leaves.
2025-09-18
My first sketch is based off some of the sketches I did in my mini sketch book.
My mini sketch book mostly consisted of still lifes in my bedroom.
I wasn't happy with any of the sketches in my little book so I decied to make a
remastered version at a larger scale. I started this sketch with a relatively
wide field of view then I retroactively zoomed in the composition with some
masking tape, giving the sketch a little frame!
