RITUAL OF SKETCHING: ZURIK

We return to “Ritual Of Sketching” section with a very interesting guest; Zurik from Colombia. In this case, sketching is a thorough and independent activity, and Zurik explains in detail, the process and meaning of working on paper.

‘You will never be able to draw the meaning of something unless you are feeling while you are drawing it.‘

Robert Henri

For me, sketches have become an obsession somewhat equal to painting.
When I sketch, I never think about the next step of it being painted on a wall. I do sketches for the fun of it, because drawing on paper is a result in itself.

It’s always difficult for me to come up with a specific theme or idea. I’m never sure what I will start with or what it is that I want to draw. The more I think about it, the more I digress, and it’s possible that the drawing never even begins. On the other hand, I always begin structuring some letters, trying to keep them as close as possible to their original structure. This is the part that I find the most tedious since it’s like following rules. Later comes the pleasant and enjoyable part of having made the sketches. I begin by placing lines of various sizes around the shape, and I let myself flow off of perception in space and sensitivity, more than on the premise of the “letters having to be seen and understood.” I add characters or objects into the space and later on it all starts to make sense, at least it does for me, and I’m my biggest fan and detractor.

It’s really difficult for me to imagine one of these sketches on a wall; they weren’t made for that reason and I don’t use them in my pieces because I consider it a violation of their existence.
Each time it’s a challenge… an experience. I need one or two full days, and more or less 10 hours each day to create these sketches. I take the time and space needed to enjoy doing them.

The size is almost always 1/4 of a spread. I like to have enough space to keep shaping it out as things happen along the way. The result is always rewarding so I try to preserve them physically and digitally in the best condition possible.

A lot of times I’m not satisfied with just the drawing. I believe that any other medium that comes into contact with it can enrich the drawing, and for that reason some of the photos I take of the sketches are intended to be a part of them…throw in a pair of hands, playing with the phone screen, and the “photo within the photo” is always a delight.

I consider drawing to be an extension of human thought, there’s no rules or limits. You are the creator of everything that exists there.
Let it be known that I love those sheets that used to be white!