Carlos Fentanes

The Cognitive Act of Looking

Observed Realities

This selection of drawings explores the boundary between technical observation and psychological presence. Working across media such as graphite, charcoal, and ballpoint pen, I examine how focused attention transforms the act of depiction into an interpretive process. Each work resists the purely documentary, instead emphasizing the subtle distortions that emerge through sustained looking.

Drawing for me is not only a way to record but a method of thinking — a cognitive discipline that allows reality to be both scrutinized and reimagined. These pieces often originate from direct observation, yet they retain traces of memory, discomfort, and narrative ambiguity. I am particularly interested in how surface detail can function as both evidence and artifice.