
Abstract Drawing as Perception in Action: Insights from Alva Noë
"Perception Isn’t Passive—It’s Action! What Alva Noë Can Teach Abstract Artists"
Alva Noë’s Action in Perception challenges traditional views of perception as a passive receipt of information, presenting it instead as an active, embodied process. For abstract artists like myself, Noë’s ideas resonate deeply, reframing drawing as an act of engaging with perception itself. When you pick up a pen or brush, you’re not just creating a picture—you’re mapping the very ways you connect with the world around you.
Perception: Beyond the Eyes
In Action in Perception, Noë argues that seeing is not something the brain does in isolation. Perception is an active, embodied process involving movement, touch, and interaction with the environment. This perspective aligns closely with the experience of creating abstract drawings, where the act of mark-making feels like a dialogue between the body, the materials, and the evolving artwork.
When drawing abstractly, I’m not simply depicting what I see but engaging with the unseen—those hidden energies, memories, and sensations that emerge only through the physical act of drawing. Noë’s emphasis on action in perception provides a philosophical foundation for this approach, highlighting how perception arises from our embodied interaction with the world.
Drawing as an Experiment in Perception
Abstract drawing can be thought of as a series of perceptual experiments. As I move my pen across the paper, I’m testing relationships: between shapes, spaces, and the rhythm of my hand. This is not mental at all (at least not at this point in my process) but it was at one point. I needed to divorce the program of drawing with my hand and head.
Each mark alters the field of possibilities (it’s what I think surfing must feel like), just as every movement we make changes how we perceive the world, so does each sense (all 13) as I surf the experiences going through me. Noë’s idea that perception is something we do, not something that happens to us, transforms the act of drawing into an active exploration of becoming.
For example, when I draw chaotic overlapping lines, I’m not replicating a visual reference but engaging with the patterns of tension and release that my body senses—both internally and externally. The resulting image might feel chaotic, but it’s also a map of perceptual engagement—a visual artifact of action in perception.
The Viewer’s Role in Completing the Work
Here’s the deal: perception isn’t just about seeing—it’s about participating. Alva Noë tells us that when you engage with art, you’re not a passive observer—you’re an active player, completing the work through your experience.
Abstract art takes this idea and cranks it up to 11. Without literal meanings to lean on, it demands your participation. My drawings, with their sharp shapes, vibrant colors, and layered geometric marks, become more than just images. Viewers see energies, moods, and memories that they bring to the table. It’s like an “I-Ching” for the visual world— different for everyone, every time.
Here’s the magic: as I create, I’m exploring my perception. When you engage with the finished work, you’re exploring yours. Together, we’re in a shared dance of discovery. Abstract art isn’t just something you look at—it’s something you experience.
Abstract Drawing as a Form of Philosophical Inquiry
What I find most compelling about Noë’s philosophy is its alignment with my artistic process as a form of curiosity/inquiry. Abstract drawing becomes a way to question: How do I know what I know? What unseen forces influence what I perceive? How does movement shape understanding? Each drawing session becomes an experiment in perception, as well as a meditation on the act of seeing.
Try this: Look at a work and imagine being it—as if the drawing is alive, and you are it. Let it sing. Release your verbal and visual associations alone. What do you see now?
By refusing to settle into fixed representations, abstract drawing allows for a continuous unfolding—an ongoing process of becoming. It mirrors Noë’s claim that perception is not a static achievement but a dynamic engagement.
Conclusion
Just as Noë invites us to rethink perception as something we do, abstract drawing invites us to rethink art-making as an exploration of how we come to know and see the world. Whether through the rhythm of a pencil line or the weaving of shapes, drawing becomes a way of embodying perception in action—a dance between the visible and the invisible, the seen and the felt.