Serial Drawing

Although object-oriented ontology (OOO) has put a great deal of effort into discussing problems of aesthetics, what Joe Graham does in this book is something completely new: he develops the first theory of object-oriented seriality in art. Better yet, he does so with one of the most lucid treatments ever seen of OOO’s fourfold object model. I’ll be sifting through the implications of this book for a long time to come. -- Graham Harman, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Liberal Arts Program Coordinator at Southern California Institute of Architecture, USA This is a rewarding read and a much needed contribution to debates within the field of serial art. Graham asks what kind of an art object is a serially developed drawing and how is it seen and understood? Through a focussed consideration of serial drawings by Ellsworth Kelly, Alexei Jawlesky, Hanne Darboven and Jill Baroff, Joe Graham deftly leads us into the concept of ‘seeing serially’ in order to contemplate the performative nature of encounters between viewers and serial artworks. -- Jill Journeaux, Professor of Fine Art, Research Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities, Coventry University, UK This book revitalizes drawing as a prime means of developing an intelligence of seeing. Drawing practices, traditionally constrained between representationalism and expressionism, are here articulated through the author’s theory of object-oriented seriality, a means to realising the visual potential of the dialectic between objectivity and subjectivity over the passage of time. -- Howard Riley, Professor Emeritus, Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK Serial art, one may assume, invites little variation in definition, form or theoretical premise. Joe Graham proves differently. After discussing a surprisingly varied range of philosophical definitions of seriality, he establishes grounds for a theoretical position for an embodied mode of serially seeing. As such, (art) objects presenting themselves as serial teach us rather than letting us impose content. This act of seeing privileges an understanding of systems and structures over meaning. Graham’s investigation leads us to understand why Harman’s object-oriented ontology is indispensable as an aesthetic mode for the 21st century, making us appreciate what emerges and simultaneously withdraws when contemplating art. Nothing is better suited to test this mode than drawing, as (to quote the author) it uniquely combines ‘visible material and formal qualities […] with a conceptual underpinning […] inherent to serial structure and order’. To which end Graham modifies Harman’s ontology and reconfigures it, to correspond to the serial character of drawing, challenging the viewer to overcome passive consumption with the embodiment of active perception. -- Doris Rohr, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Liverpool Hope University, UK