The Ambiguity of Space: Scott Tulay’s Unsettling Drawings

Scott Tulay’s abstract architectural drawings aren’t intended to be easy on the eyes. A feeling of unease, of disorientation, or suffocation might awaken in the viewer. “My daughters, who are eight and five, consistently complain that my drawings are ‘too scary,’” admitted Tulay in an interview with Mass Cultural Council. “Once in a while, however, I’ll do a drawing, and they’ll tilt their heads to the side and say ‘Not bad, Dad.’ This scares me.”

Inspired by built form, as well as nature, his art is cerates as a way for Tulay to investigate the ambiguity of space. Coming from a background in architecture, this ambiguity intrigues him greatly. “As an architect, I meticulously create drawings to reveal and describe a building’s design and construction,” he writes on his website. “In my art studio, I am able to break from all these conventions and push the gravitational and spatial boundaries of these spaces I imagine.”

Light, or what looks like atmosphere or fog, is engaged in either defining space or dematerializing the landscape or architectural elements depicted in his artwork. This treatment of light, combined with an unclear relationship of the viewer’s place in relation to the ground plane, creates a spatial disconnect with an ambiguity of depth and motion.

Take a closer look.