Four pears on a windowsill - 2025 04 12

 

Graphite, pencil crayon on mylar - 12" x 9"

Last night I decided to stay in instead of going out to an open mic evening. I am recovering from burn out. I used up my energy on an artist date to the art supply store at midday with my good friends, Christine and Louise. I couldn't wait to try my new drawing materials. I was happy to stay home with the dog for the evening.

Ellen Dissanayke describes how pre-contact human tribal societies show a common trait of calling themselves 'people' (human) and neighouring tribes (non tribe members) 'other' (non-human) (Dissanayake, 1995 p. 15). This construction of human identity seems self-evident and passes uncontested. Humans everywhere tend to consider themselves and their immediate kind to be the measure of all things.

The pear drawing project continues. There are four pears on the windowsill. Three of them are loosely grouped to the left of the picture frame. The fourth pear is turned to the extreme right, peering intently to activity outside the window and outside the picture frame. Two of the three pears on the left are noticing the fourth pear and showing curiosity, the third pear is looking far left, almost back over it's shoulder, into the inside of the room, also out of picture frame.

Dissanayake argues for a biological view of human nature, that our behaviour, and our bodies, have evolved in response to adaptations to our habitat. Over four million years we have become what we are, Homo Sapiens.

The first layer of the drawing is an implied line drawn with a 9B graphite stick. The graphite is soft and pliable. The tooth of the mylar surface pulls flakes of graphite to adhere to the surface. The line is dynamic, the intensity of the line reflects the gesture I have applied, the amount of pressure (soft, heavy) and the speed of movement (rapid, slow). Immediately the shapes of the pears and the windowsill emerge, a suggestion of structure, objects, subjectivity, relationships, and interconnectivity.

Human nature is not immutable and essentially determined. Dissanayake proposes that human nature consists of a range of powers and abilities that are brought out under favourable circumstances. These favourable circumstances can be understood as circumstances that resemble those we have experienced during the greater period of human evolution. Our 'human nature' emerges in relation to the circumstances we encounter, this emergence exhibits our range of powers and abilities at any given time.

The next layer of drawing is also graphite - mechanical pencils .o9, .o7, and .o5 lead thickness. Starting with .o9, I follow the edges of shapes and shadows with a meandering line. Next I use the .o7 to scribble into the most densely shadowed areas, and reinforce the strongest edges. Last I use the .o5 pencil to scribble from the darkest areas into the space adjacent to the lightest areas. I leave areas of highest light value untouched.

A biobehavioural view of human nature understands the idea of "powers" as potentials, un-fixed, that can be enhanced or discouraged depending on the circumstances of their emergence, the kinds of perturbations encountered in the field of perception. These perturbations may feel good (attractive) or they may feel threatening (avoidant). As Dissanayake writes, we choose on the basis of our feelings (p. 17). Emotions (feelings) are psychological correlates of physiological events, they are influenced by our biological makeup. Our capacities and capabilities evolve, they are enhanced or discouraged by the circumstances of their emergence.

Next I select three shades and temperatures of blue pencil crayons. Again I start with the darkest shade of blue and work into the darkest areas, deepening the contrast between light and dark. The second shade of blue extends outside the darkest area to adjacent areas where transition from light to dark modulates by the width of this mid-blue colour pencil. Finally, the lightest, warmest shade of blue transitions between the dark and mid-range blue values to bridge the gap to the areas of lightest highlight. Each of these colour areas emerge darkest to light values. The darkest areas are comprised of all three shades of blue. The lightest areas show only the lightest shade of blue pencil crayon.

There are behavioral features or tendencies in human life that are instrinsic, and remain relatively unchanged because they contribute positively to our evolutionary success. Behaviours that are found across all groups of human beings can be seen as selectively advantageous. Adult universal behaviours include: active seeking of companionship, suspicion of strangers, avoice of the unfamiliar, communal self-transcendence. Universally innate behavioral features in human life diminishes any hard line between nature and culture. Culture can be understood as a universal human behaviour that contributes positively to our evolutionary success.

I have been working on the drawing for a couple of hours. At this point I am tired and ready to stop for the night. I step back from the drawing to see what it is teaching me. About drawing. About pears. About colour, shape, form, line. About composition. My first impression is that I have made everything too dark. I start thinking about ways to reduce the intensity of the colours I have put down.

Cultural evolution is transmitted through teaching, learning, imitation, imitation, practice and reading. Genes affect what we choose to learn, our aptness or readiness to learn, the speed we are able to learn, and the time we are receptive to learn new things. The evolution of art is a story of biology and culture. The act of art making is a behviour that has shown to be intrinsic across diverse human groups, as well as across time. There are tracings of artmaking throughout human prehistory, long before it became the purview of specific cultural knowledge or taxonomies of art 'progress'.

The next morning I look again and think deeply about the progress I have made on the drawing. It does not look so dark to me, it does not need fixing. The attitude of the pears are telling me a story that reflects my feelings and sense-making of this current time. The presence of the drawing hanging in my diningroom gives me comfort, stability, it helps me face the uncertainties of the day.

Dissanayake, E. (1995). What is art for? (3. print). Univ. of Washington Pr.