Re: Drawing

BACKGROUND: The visual essay entitled 'Re: Drawing' by Anton James is a reflection on his design art practice within landscape architecture. The essay contains 18 drawings representing his design thinking. They are abstract wanderings that parallel specific design problems. CONTRIBUTION: The act of drawing is the core of James' methodology; it drives his critical practice. The drawing and colouring materials chosen - from pencil, gouache and collage - test the weight and arrangement of key elements in the designs. He uses drawing to flatten-out, scale and layer patterns to denote three-dimensional ideas such as intensity, directionality and spatial depth. Exaggerated colour, distorted scale, and forced perspectival inaccuracies are a way to engage with the atmosphere, experience, and materiality of a landscape. In addition to technical representation, drawing also demonstrates James' poetic engagement with site; it allows him to pin down a feeling of and towards place, and to crystallise what is of existing value in a place and experiment with its future. This visual essay demonstrates James' ongoing research practice using drawing as a tool to evolve ideas; they show how new places take shape in the space between intent and its representation. This work contributes to the understanding of drawing as an art that informs the realisation of architectural forms and the built environment. SIGNIFICANCE: The significance of James' drawings is evidenced by their publication in the peer-reviewed Journal of Landscape Architecture (Taylor and Francis): the academic Journal of the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools which aims to extend scholarly debate and give space to the reflective practitioner and to design research. In 2016, James was 1 of 33 Australian architects invited to exhibit drawings in the biannual curated show 'Drawn by Design: The Art of Architecture' at the Art Atrium in Sydney, further attesting to the significance of his drawing practice.