At first glance into the research of Automatic drawing, it is fairly similar to Mark Making. But let me dive deeper into the research to confirm my hypothesis. Lets go!
What is Automatism?
Automatic Drawing (1924)
André Masson
Ink on paper
(23.5 × 20.6 cm).
“Automatism” most often refers to a technique of subconscious drawing in which the artist allows his unconscious mind to take control. It is the primary method of surrealism.
Automatism is a sort of accelerated or intensified gestural movements. Unexpected and unpredicted images can be made to appear, while avoiding conscious control over the image.
Automatic techniques not only involves doodling or marking marks on paper.
Some other automatic techniques include:
Grattage
Grattage is a surrealist painting technique that involves laying a canvas prepared with a layer of oil paint over a textured object and then scraping the paint off to create an interesting and unexpected surface
Max Ernst
Forest and Dove 1927
Oil on canvas
support: 1003 x 813 mm
frame: 1200 x 1012 x 66 mm
Frottage
Frottage is a surrealist and ‘automatic’ method of creative production that involves creating a rubbing of a textured surface using a pencil or other drawing material
Phoenix Landing
2003
Roger Clark Miller
Fumage
Fumage is a technique in which an image is created by painting with smoke from a lighted candle into a ground of wet paint.
Fumage, gouache, and color pencil work, by Antonio Muñiz
1955
Oil, sand and glue on canvas
551 x 380 mm
Sand painting
Sand painting is the art of pouring colored sands, and powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, or pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed, or unfixed sand painting.
André Masson
Star, Winged Being, Fish 1955
Froissage
Froissage is a method of collage in which the lines made by crumpling up a piece of paper are used to create a drawing.
Torn paper collage etc.
Paper collage is a technique of an art production where the artwork is created using an assemblage of different forms and shapes using paper.
When did Automatism begin?
Popularized during the 20th century by Surrealist artists, they sought to unleash the creative force of the unconscious in art.
The Surrealists embraced automatic drawing as way to incorporate the subconscious into their artwork, and to free themselves from artistic conventions, social norms and everyday thinking.
Automatic drawing and painting was seen as the only way then to escape from cultural, intellectual and historical constraints and unlock the basic creativity supposedly lodged deep within the artist’s personality. This technique, Surrealists felt, was a way in to access meaning and information that were unavailable through tradition and the conscious mind.
Impact Automatism had ?
Apart from Surrealism, other movements/ group in which Automatism has played a role includes: Dadaism ( In the early 20th Century), the gestural style of Action Painting and a late-1940s Canadian artist group known as Les Automatistes.
Probably the most famous painters associated with automatic art are Salvador Dali (1904-89) and Jackson Pollock (1912-56). Since the 1930s, Automatism has become a part of the technical repertoire of both modern and postmodern art.
What I admire about automatic drawing is that it is an immediate way to start creating art. It can be done when one feels completely uninspired or faced with a mental block due to lack of ideas. Automatism is a great way to free your creativity. It lifts you out of your logical brain’s desire to make something that’s “good” or “accurate”, unleashing your subconscious mind and breaking free from societal constraints!
Hence, to conclude the research. I feel that Automatic drawing incorporates mark making. Automatic drawing is the idea, and mark making is the technique to carry it out.