Figures in States of Transition | Figurative Drawings by Alex Pascual
My work explores the relationship between the human figure, memory and domestic interior spaces.
Working primarily with coloured pencil, I create contemporary figurative drawings that explore everyday life, emotional memory and the quiet psychological tension hidden within ordinary situations. Bedrooms, kitchens, chairs, clothing and familiar objects are never simply backgrounds; they become spaces where memories, emotions and personal experiences quietly accumulate.
The Human Figure and Domestic Space
The human figure lies at the centre of my practice. What draws me is the expressive potential of the body — how a gesture, a posture or a subtle movement can communicate emotions that words often cannot. Although my drawings frequently depict female figures, they are not portraits in the traditional sense. Instead, they become anonymous presences suspended somewhere between appearance and disappearance: resting, waiting, thinking or simply existing within their surroundings.
Many drawings begin with observation, often during life-drawing sessions, before gradually moving away from direct representation. What happens next is what interests me most: reality passes through memory, proportions shift, perspectives bend, and colour responds to emotion rather than observation.
Memory, Distortion and Ambiguity
Distortion is not an aesthetic choice for its own sake. It reflects the way memory itself operates: unstable, fragmented and constantly reshaping our perception of the past. Rather than documenting reality, I try to reconstruct how places, people and moments are emotionally remembered.
Ambiguity plays an essential role in this process too. I avoid explaining every narrative or offering a fixed interpretation, and prefer images where something remains unresolved, letting the viewer enter the drawing through their own memories and emotional associations. The image becomes more alive when it leaves space for uncertainty.
A Personal Visual Diary
Living in Barcelona, Dublin, London, Glasgow and now Copenhagen has gradually shaped my visual language. Each city, home and domestic interior has become part of an ongoing visual diary that continues to evolve over time. Drawing allows me to preserve fragments of lived experience while transforming them into something less literal and more psychological.
Artists and filmmakers who find meaning in ordinary moments and quiet situations have deeply influenced the emotional tone of my own work — their attention to atmosphere, restraint and ambiguity in particular. Rather than searching for dramatic narratives, I look for the subtle tensions that exist beneath everyday life.
Why Coloured Pencil?
Working with coloured pencil allows me to embrace slowness, intimacy and uncertainty. The medium encourages hesitation rather than certainty, making each line part of an ongoing search rather than a definitive statement.
Using simple materials — paper, coloured pencil and acrylic — I try to create images where everyday life becomes quietly psychological, emotionally ambiguous and open to interpretation. My intention is not to reproduce reality, but to create drawings that feel remembered rather than observed.
If you enjoyed this essay, you may also like:
You can also explore more original drawings in the Artworkand Shop sections.
