The first university-level textbook on the power, condition, and expanse of contemporary fine art drawingA Companion to Contemporary Drawing explores how 20th and 21st century artists have used drawing to understand and comment on the world. Presenting contributions by both theorists and practitioners, this unique textbook considers the place, space, and history of drawing and explores shifts in attitudes towards its practice over the years. Twenty-seven essays discuss how drawing emerges from the mind of the artist to question and reflect upon what they see, feel, and experience.This book discusses key themes in contemporary drawing practice, addresses the working conditions and context of artists, and considers a wide range of personal, social, and political considerations that influence artistic choices. Topics include the politics of eroticism in South American drawing, anti-capitalist drawing from Eastern Europe, drawing and conceptual art, feminist drawing, and exhibitions that have put drawing practices at the centre of contemporary art. This textbook:* Demonstrates ways contemporary issues and concerns are addressed through drawing* Reveals how drawing is used to make powerful social and political statements* Situates works by contemporary practitioners within the context of their historical moment* Explores how contemporary art practices utilize drawing as both process and finished artifact* Shows how concepts of observation, representation, and audience have changed dramatically in the digital era* Establishes drawing as a mode of thoughtPart of the acclaimed Wiley Blackwell Companions to Art History series, A Companion to Contemporary Drawing is a valuable text for students of fine art, art history, and curating, and for practitioners working within contemporary fine art practice.

List of Illustrations ixNotes on Contributors xviiAcknowledgments xxvIntroduction 1Kelly Chorpening and Rebecca FortnumPart I The Power of Drawing 111 The Black Index 13Bridget R. Cooks2 A State of Alert: The Politics of Eroticism in South American Drawing 29Sofia Gotti3 Graphic Witness 55Kate Macfarlane4 Drawn from Communism: Anti-Capitalist Drawing from Central-Eastern Europe 71Magdalena Radomska5 Differencing Drawing: Feminist Perspectives on Line, Surface, and Space 95Griselda Pollock6 A Dirty Double Mirror: Drawing, Autobiography, and Feminism 123Rebecca Fortnum7 Between the Sky and the Handle: Shilpa Gupta's Drawings in the Contemporary 147Parul Dave Mukherji8 Drawing as Contagion 161Jade Montserrat9 Curating Drawing: Exhibitions and the Centering of Drawing in Contemporary Art 167João RibasPart II The Condition of Drawing 18310 Observation and Drawing: From Looking to Seeing 185Paul Moorhouse11 "Drawing's Impropriety" 203Lucien Massaert12 Drawing in Atopia: An Exploration of "Drift" as Method 221Beth Harland13 Works on/in/with Paper: Approaching Drawing as Responsive Marking 239Marina Kassianidou14 Indexical Drawing: On Frottage 257Margaret Iversen15 Ground as Critical Limit 271Laura Lisbon16 Drawing's Finish 287Stephanie Straine17 Radical Antinomies: Drawing and Conceptual Art 309Anna Lovatt18 Drawing Desires 325Sunil Manghani19 Drawing from Life and the Twenty-first Century Art School 343Kelly ChorpeningPart III The Expanse of Drawing 36720 Marking Time, Moving Images: Drawing and Film 369Ed Kr ma21 Digital Drawing 389Tamarin Norwood22 The Dot and the Line: Drawing Amongst Computers 407Jane de Almeida23 Installation/Drawing: Spaces of Drawing Between Art and Architecture 431Sophia Banou24 Informational Drawing 451Matthew Ritchie25 Drawing Towards Sound - Notation, Diagram, Drawing 471David Ryan26 Chinese Calligraphy: A Drawing Ecology 493Eric Wear27 The Enduring Power of Comic Strips 513Simon GrennanIndex 531