William Anastasi

William Anastasi

Artwork Details

TITLE

Pocket Drawing

dATE

1968

Medium

Graphite on paper

DIMENSION

29 1/4 x 22 1/8 in. (74.30 cm × 56.20 cm)

Anastasi folded this sheet into thirty-two squares, making it small enough to fit into his pocket. As he walked, he held a tiny, soft pencil against the exposed paper inside the cramped space of his pocket; the resulting marks graph his movements. When he deemed a section complete, Anastasi refolded the sheet, creating a new blank surface, and the process began again. “I love walking,” the artist has explained. “I find that walking does something to my thinking, to my mental process, that is different from sitting or lying down.” These “pocket drawings” are part of a broader practice that Anastasi has described as “unsighted,” including works made while walking (holding a pad, he looks at his destination as he draws) and riding the subway (the train’s stops and starts, bumps and turns, direct the line’s size, weight, and orientation).