Time and lack of means were two crucial factors in the development
of my work -- the abundance of time and lack of money even to buy
art supplies. It was natural for me to use ink and paper. My art develo-
ped as a reaction to the fast mode I experienced when I moved to
New York twenty-five years ago. I was born in Casablanca, where the
path of life was slower in every aspect. The idea of executing a work
in one gesture was completely foreign to my crafts background. My
reaction was then to move to "maximal art." In 1972, I started to do
my first overall drawings

There are two forces in the world: the aspiration to go further, to the
moon, to build high, go fast, and a parallel movement of going to the
infinitely small, breaking the atom, modifying cells. It was a personal
challenge to bring drawing to the extreme and see how far my eyes
and fingers could go. Yves Klein used his body. Pollock his shoulder.
Agnes Martin the elbow. Morandi and Michaux the wrist. Bruce Marden
his five fingers -- I basically use my fingertips to draw.

Four hundred years ago the Japanese miniaturized their life with bonsai
trees, miniature gardens, etc. The doubling of the Earth's population
since World War II forced us to introduce the micro-element in all aspects
of life.

As much as I try to compete with a computer to make my drawings as
perfect as a machine would, I fail because of the human element of im-
perfection. By using a public form, the square, I'm trying to give attention
to the execution, which was neglected by Minimalism. When people are
confronted with my drawing, I'd prefer to hear them say "How?" rather
than "Wow!"

--Jacob El Hanani