Artaud on Paper

Abstract

So far this book has been concerned with the text and the gesturing body in their physical, material dimensions. Chapter 1 argued that thought for Artaud is a material force that plays out through text in ways that exceed what might be understood as representative language. Chapter 2 addressed Artaud’s adaptations as forms of corporeal regurgitation, and chapter 3 looked at how Artaud’s theories of performance play out in relation to his spells, whilst chapter 4 interrogated the on-screen body seeking to link Artaud’s film writings to more recent work on cinematic affect. I now want to turn to the physicality of the support or surface that Artaud engages with in his drawings and portraits, and question exactly how the complex relationship between force and form is enacted on paper, and what the implications of this are for reading, looking at, or, perhaps more accurately, being confronted with the work.