ESAD and ESAD-IDEA invite you to the launch of the book O Desenho Como Errância Fronteiriça: Tributo ao Filósofo Espanhol Eugenio Trías, by lecturer António Mendanha, on 3 December at 3pm in the ESAD auditorium.

A book that is not a drawing manual, but rather a proposal for thinking and feeling about drawing.

Drawing understood in the context of the philosophy of the limit, developed by Spanish philosopher Eugenio Trìas, was the subject of Professor António Mendanha's doctoral thesis, presented in 2007 to the University of Vigo, at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Pontevedra.

The doctoral work was deepened over the following years to give rise to an interrogation of art in general and drawing in particular. In this book, which is not a drawing manual, but rather an approach to thinking and feeling about drawing, the author carries out a remarkable reflection on matter and transcendence, on historical reflection and questioning the discourses of the present. 

Over more than four decades of teaching, António Mendanha has endeavoured to understand and convey the essence of the act of drawing in its relationship with living, seeing it as a fundamental tool for questioning contemporary culture.

The book's graphic design was the responsibility of Inês Nepomuceno, a lecturer and graphic designer with vast experience in projects linked to teaching and the cultural field, in collaboration with designer and ESAD alumnus Pedro Lobo.

About the author

António Mendanha was born in 1948 in Forjães (Esposende). He completed his doctorate in Fine Arts in 2007 at the University of Vigo, Faculty of Fine Arts of Pontevedra, presenting the thesis ‘Drawing as Border Errancy from the perspective of the philosophy of the limit in Eugenio Trías’. He graduated in Fine Arts/Painting in 1986 from the Belas-Artes do Porto. He joined ESAD in 1991.

She is a member of the Technical-Scientific Council and has also been a member of the Pedagogical Council. He co-ordinated the Drawing department at ESAD for around 30 years. She taught at ESAP for three years and also at the secondary school Escola C+S de Barroselas, from 1985 to 2009. She is active in painting and sculpture, with works, together with her children, in France, Brazil, Spain, Madeira and mainland Portugal, and has received a number of prizes and awards.