Satisfaction and Doubt: Working in and on the Grid

Abstract

This studio-based research project illustrates an investigation into personal motivation and doubt through the practice of expanded drawing. Using shading, scratching and cutting, I intervene with the surface of space in response to the architectural propositions at hand. During this process, I have found myself trying to make sense of these actions, particularly with regards to the influence that drives them, and account for whether they align with a non-hierarchical, fluid theory of gender. At the centre of this research is the perception that geometry, as it is commonly spoken of and received in art discourse, is binary in its correspondence with gender. Research into this discourse has largely been led by a community of artists and art critics who collect around the grid. I am concerned with the social and material politics that surround the grid and frequently return to this structure as a resource for clarity, whilst also approaching it with a certain degree of scepticism. In the written dissertation that follows, I attempt to unpack this drawing practice, understand why it looks to the grid as an anchor and why this, in turn, generates doubt about my actions in the studio.