Automatic Drawing: Measuring the 6.9-Magnitude Quakes of the Mind

This morning, I caught an article about the tragic earthquake that devastated the Bay Area on October 17, twenty years ago. I thought, "Wow! A 6.9-magnitude quake, measured on the Richter scale, would send the needles of the local seismograph machines off the charts!" Then I had one of those Aha! moments: If the sporadic lines etched by seismograph needles can record earth's tectonic activity, then why can't pencil lines depict the deep rumbling tremors of the subconscious mind?

I quickly searched through old sketchbooks until I found two abstract drawings that delineate my epiphany. Created four years ago, the sketches show glimpses of the uncharted depths of full-throttle spontaneous drawing. While doing them, I intentionally suppressed all conscious thoughts except for the movement of my pencil (I eventually lost track of that too). The rapidly-drawn lines became a seismic reading of my subconscious mind's activity.


Click on drawings for detailed images

It usually takes a big investment of time for viewers to appreciate these abstract sketches. But if one imagines the pencil point as the needle of a seismograph, and the lines as the printout of shifting synaptic quakes of the mind, then it's easy to understand their purpose.

Just as earthquakes reveal the natural forces of the world around us, drawings can reveal the critical inner-workings of the human mind.

And, if you extend the metaphor of the needle to polygraph tests, then these drawings could become printouts of the quest for truth. But then, that's a whole different discussion.