Silent Monumentalism
Pieter Lategan 2026
Sketchbook Notes
This sketch explores a more complex structural form.
The shape feels like it can stand out of a wall or exist as a built structure.
There is a strong central mass, but too many planes and shading create noise.
The drawing becomes more narrative because of the detail and fragmentation.
The structure starts to lose clarity.
This shows the need to reduce the form to its main planes.
The core shape must be isolated and simplified.
The intention is to move this toward a stable structure that can hold without shading or detail.
Silent Monumentalism — Wall Structure Study (Sketchbook, 2026)
Pieter Lategan
This sketch continues the reduction of a complex form into a single structure.
The drawing removes shading and focuses on line and plane, but the form is still fragmented and slightly restless.
The next step is to simplify the shape further, reduce directional changes, and allow the structure to stand and hold without movement.
The work is moving toward a flat wall-based structure with minimal contrast.
Silent Monumentalism — Grounded Wall Structure (Sketchbook, 2026)
This sketch moves closer to a calm and reduced structure.
The form is simplified and begins to hold in space, with less fragmentation and fewer directional changes.
The structure is becoming more grounded, but some edges still feel uncertain and slightly expressive.
The next step is to reduce the angles further, strengthen the connections, and allow the form to rest more naturally within the wall plane.
The intention is to create a structure that stands without movement, explanation, or emphasis.
This sketch explores further reduction of structure into a single directional form.
The drawing becomes lighter and more minimal, but loses some sense of weight and grounding.
The structure begins to feel too sharp and slightly unstable, introducing a sense of movement rather than rest.
This shows the importance of maintaining mass and balance within the form.
The next step is to reintroduce weight, reduce sharp angles, and allow the structure to sit more firmly within the space.
Silent Monumentalism — Spatial / Atmospheric Study (Not Discipline) (Sketchbook, 2026)
Pieter Lategan
These drawings explore space through movement and repeated lines.
Both sketches show a similar interest in a large curved space or vault-like structure.
There is a sense of enclosure and directional movement across the page.
However, this is not Silent Monumentalism yet.
The drawings are too active and become emotional and atmospheric rather than structural.
Too many lines create noise and remove stability.
The forms are not clearly defined as planes, and the structure does not fully hold or rest.
This type of drawing becomes expressive and exploratory, but not disciplined.
This page is important as a record of what the work should not become.
The next step is to extract the main structure and reduce it to a few clear, grounded planes with strong outlines and minimal lines.
The focus must move from movement to control, and from expression to structure.
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