INFINITELY EXTENSIVE

John Berger, in the following passage, exhorts us to beware of the habitual gesture, the habitual line, and maybe all habits in general:

“The lines of a sign are uniform and regular: the lines of a drawing are harassed and tense.  Somebody making a sign repeats an habitual gesture:  Somebody making a drawing is alone in the infinitely extensive.”  p113.

While I might disagree with his description of the lines of a drawing being harassed and tense, I wholeheartedly agree with his premise that when you are drawing, you are floating in what he exquisitely terms the infinitely extensive.

And if you find yourself making the habitual gesture with your pencil, stop it.  Become one with the infinitely extensive.

1.Berger, John.  Bento’s Sketchbook.  Random House.  New York.  2011.