The social semiotic potential of gestural drawing

ABSTRACT

This article explores the relationship between semiotic understanding and gestural drawing practice. Gesture is discussed as an integral drawing strategy in the production of a body of practical research titled extended drawings. Recent debate about whether gestural and embodied practice falls outside the realm of semiotic analysis is addressed, and a selection of the extended drawings series is analysed within a semiotic framework. Specifically, a systemic-functional semiotic model is introduced and explained. Such a model is shown to facilitate the negotiation of a wider range of meanings than otherwise available, particularly revealing underlying assumptions of the model/artist/viewer social relationships. It is concluded that no drawing practice is beyond the realm of the semiotic, and that semiotic analysis is applicable across the whole domain of drawing, including the gestural, as a means of generating meaning.

KEYWORDS:

• Drawing
• Semiotics
• gestural drawing
• embodied drawing
• multiple perspective
• extended drawing
• life drawing