This sketch is part of my ongoing studio work in Silent Monumentalism and Gravitas.
The drawing shows two simple structural forms placed in relation to one another. One form sits lower and stretches outward, while the other rises more vertically with a heavier upper mass and a smaller base below it. The sketch is not about decoration or a finished object. It is a study of how weight can be felt through placement, shadow, proportion and silence.
The pencil marks are important because they show the thinking inside the work. The construction lines, darker areas, repeated hatching and rough corrections all form part of the studio process. They show how a form is tested before it becomes more resolved. The work is not trying to explain too much. It is asking how two masses can hold space between them.
Within Silent Monumentalism, this kind of study helps me think about structure, stillness and presence. Within Gravitas, it becomes a way to test balance, pressure, support and the quiet tension between forms.
The darker pencil areas give the forms a sense of density. The lighter surrounding lines keep the drawing open, almost like an architectural note or a studio plan. The result is a small sketch, but the concern is larger: how matter occupies space, how silence can carry weight, and how a simple structure can begin to feel grounded.
Pieter Lategan | STUDIO
Pretoria, South Africa