The act of drawing is a strategy; it is a way of moving through the world, and also a way of being still. I’ve gone on some trips recently without a camera, since the camera makes my eye lazy. An instant and then it’s a memory. We’ve all had the experience of looking at a photograph we've taken without the recollection of experiencing "there". This is obviously not the case with a drawing. Even the most rapid sketch requires the physical time, the actual connection between eye, hand, mind, and the engagement with what is before you. The act of sketching in an urban environment is not merely an act of recording; it’s an act of having your surroundings unfold before you.

This is also why I’m suspicious of technique. Isn’t it important to guard against forcing the sameness, to see only what you draw well and not engage with what makes your drawing fall apart? The street sketch is not about being a good drawing or not, artistically speaking. Ideally the subject, the conditions of the drawing, should exert its own force; much as drawing in ink is a different game than pencil. Why should the dazzlingly crisp light of Rome not have an impact on the way you approach a sketch? Or the haze of Shanghai smog? Places suggest what way is right for their drawing.

Drawing, for me, is a device. It is a tool that allows me to slow down. It is a measure of where I am, and why it is different than where I was.

from "Cities and Slowness." Newtopia Vol. II No. 2, June 2003.
all material copyright 2006 aaron mcdonald architect unless noted all rights reserved

Aaron McDonald Architect, 1 Union Square 903, New York, New York 10003