In his drawings, Marc Nagtzaam explores how repetition can give rise to renewal—how form, time, and concentration maintain a delicate balance. "To Imagine an Aesthetics of Repetition" is composed of a field of graphite that almost entirely covers the sheet. Only at the edges does a trace of white remain: a breath of space within an almost closed structure.
Within this dark expanse, rectangular zones unfold—residual lines from earlier decisions that have been overwritten but remain subtly present. The drawing appears to have been gradually condensed, built from endless gestures that seek order without ever fully resolving.
What looks monolithic from a distance reveals itself up close to be full of nuance: slight shifts in tone, a line just a touch thicker, a corner that doesn’t quite close. Here, repetition is not routine but a form of attention—a way of being present in time.
In this way, the surface becomes a space for thinking. A drawing that does not depict something, but rather makes the act of drawing itself visible—a space that continuously reshapes itself and never fully closes.