Jaguar Magazine 03/2017 – English

SINGLE LINE ART
Five hands drawn without lifting
the pencil for a moment according
to the Parisian artistic duo
Differantly (DTF). Right: Mo Ganji
creating a new design
When Emma and Stephane put pen to
paper, all eyes go on a roller coaster
ride. Lines turn into loops, twisting and
turning all over the paper, forming
steep curves and sharp angles. Within
seconds they have conjured up racing cars, cult sneakers or
perfume bottles without lifting the pen off the page once.
Both members of the Parisian art duo “Differantly” (DFT)
specialise in “one line art” and are among the most
prominent exponents of this art form. Their continuous line
drawings have become sought-after collectors’ items and
their clients include major international names.
Very few people are aware that this seemingly effortless
technique is actually part of a complicated process.
According to Stephane, “The drawing performance is only
the tip of the iceberg. First we study an object in detail,
capture its very essence and sketch it from different angles.
Then we rewind. A sports shoe or a handbag becomes
deconstructed and ultimately scaled down to the bare
minimum.” Hatching, shading and colours are irrelevant.
Only the continuous line counts.
It prompts the onlooker to search for where it begins and
where it ends. It doesn’t take long to realise that one line art
calls for a whole host of talents, such as the utmost
concentration and a precise power of imagination, not to
mention stamina. Keeping your pen on the paper also
requires the courage to make irrevocable decisions and
radically reduce complexity down to the bare essentials.
Even the most famous exponent of one line art, Pablo
Picasso, went through this process. In his “Bull” series of
11 lithographs created in 1945/46, he started off by
depicting the creature realistically, then in a cubist style
and finally in sparse abstract lines. The Spanish master,
who was inspired by the precise outlines of cave paintings,
had an unrivalled knack for carving out the characteristics
of animals, dancers and musicians using sparing, yet all the
more accurate, lines of ink.
Whereas Alexander Calder transposed single line drawings
into wire sculptures from 1926, such as in his wire portrait of
the painter Fernand Léger, a number of great illustrators also
experimented with line art: Paul Klees’ work “Little Jester in a
Trance” (1927) is the most famous continuous line monotype.
“The Man with the Big Mouth” and “What Is He Missing?”
(both 1930) were created using continuous pencil and
watercolour brush lines over the paper.
“ONE LINE ART IS
CONSTANTLY FORCING
YOU TO TAKE COLD-
HEARTED DECISIONS ”
Saul Steinberg used lines for a more acidic and pronounced
effect. This famous Romanian-American illustrator
attempted to emigrate to the US with a fake passport in
1941, then supplied The New Yorker with cartoons while
based in the Dominican Republic. He depicted the escape in
his one line portrait “Passport” (1948), then came up with his
most famous, untitled, continuous line work the same year,
featuring a man drawing a circle around himself. Another
character drawn with a single line was “Mr Linea”, a choleric
character of the 1970s cult “La Linea” cartoon series created
by the Milanese cartoonist Osvaldo Cavandoli. The little stick
man rants and raves, gesticulating wildly along a line that
throws up new obstacles along his angry path.
To this day, the challenge of creating patterns with a
strong power of expression out of a few lines has fascinated
72 THE JAGUAR