A love letter to the humble Texta

catalogue essay by Jeremy Smith

The humble nature of the Texta pen begins with the uniquely Australian generic colloquialism of its name. Known by many names internationally: marker pen, felt pen, permanent marker, felt tip pen, it is in the famously diminutive and hypocorism/slang-heavy Australian language that the term Texta finds the truest expression of its humility. Would a Texta by any other name sound as humble?

Historically, not all mediums were created equal. In the grand archaic hierarchy of artistic mediums, the humble Texta has long been relegated to the use of children, ‘outsider art’, graffiti, illustration or craft. If we consider this antiquated hierarchy of mediums with the long-venerated oil paint at the top, followed by marble or bronze sculptures, drawing (the practice within Textas often finds its application) would historically rank below other mediums. Drawing itself has often been characterised as secondary, a training tool, or preparatory work to those higher ranked mediums. Within the practice of drawing exists a further hierarchy of graphite pencils, charcoal and ink pens at the top, with pastels, crayons, chalk and the humble Texta at the bottom.

Yet the very characteristics why drawing (and, by extension, Texta) has often been looked down upon as a medium are today the reasons why they are experiencing a flourishing Renaissance of use, particularly among younger artists. These characteristics include directness, affordability, experimentation, vibrant ‘artificial’ colours, visibility of marks, simplicity, creative expression, quick-drying, portability, ease of use, rawness, modesty, blendablity and open-endedness, to name a few. As contemporary art has moved away from strict realism both in figuration and colour, these characteristics of drawing and Texta have become liberating, democratic mediums on the path to greater creative expression. These characteristics free artists from the limitations of price, realism, and formality to create contemporary works of vibrancy, humour and playfulness.

One of the defining characteristics of Textas is their vibrant ‘highlighter’ colour palette that allows artists to break free of realism and explore a psychedelic world of colour well beyond the limitations of traditional palettes. In my own drawing practice, I had previously shied away from the use of colour, with its complex added language, until I started using Textas. Textas enabled my drawings to be free from depicting colour realism and capture a frenetic energy of unstable colour liberation that better reflects the contemporary world. This palette of neon, fluorescent, highlighter, metallic, ‘bubble gum’, hyper-colour, glitter, and artificiality can more accurately mirror our late-capitalism, visually saturated, post-post-modern, Internet age of ‘everything, everywhere all at once’. Not only is the hierarchy of artistic mediums eroding in contemporary art, but so too is the hierarchy of colours between the realistic and unrealistic. With every stroke of a fluorescent bumble-gum glitter pink Texta pen, the ossifying hierarchies fracture into a kaleidoscopic future.

Everyone can be an artist, but not everyone has the means to access all artistic mediums. The revered hallowed mediums of oil paint and marble are perhaps at the pinnacle of the traditional artistic medium hierarchy because of their inherent inaccessibility due to cost and time-intensive mastery. Textas, by contrast, are easy to use, usually affordable, widely available and accessible to all artists, from the child in the schoolroom to the professional artist in their studio. The ubiquity of Textas in school classrooms has led to the medium being associated with children or young artists. The ready-to-use and user-friendly nature of Textas enable children to intuitively use them without the necessity of mastering complex tools. Many drawing artists speak about their first interaction with the medium in their childhood, myself included. I remember school sketchbooks filled with intricate drawings of myself in a top hat, going on adventures, coloured with bold Texta pens. No doubt, the lack of mess that other mediums entail, together with the affordability, ease of use and variety of colours, make them the preferred medium of choice for parents and teachers. My childhood memories are imprinted with the image of the rainbow Faber-castle Texta set, connected together, filling me with such creative joy.

Of all the features that highlight the magic of the humble Texta pen, from the hyper-colour palette to its affordability and its association with childhood, perhaps its greatest feature is its ability, through its immediacy and directness, to be at the genesis of thought. Much has been written on drawing as the medium most closely aligned with the materialisation of thought and access to the subconscious mind. This materialisation of thought often being created spontaneously and instinctually through unthinking doodles, annotations, and the working out of ideas, historically led the medium to be seen as preparation for other mediums. It is this open-endness, seemingly unfinished nature, of, at times, private visual musings that give us a window into our subconscious. Our daydreaming mind is perfectly suited to the medium of pens, pencils and Textas, which can be used to reveal our interior world. With their eclectic colour palate, Textas are ready at our fingertips to translate a technicolour dreamscape from our mind to page. Children will often draw with pens and Textas to express emotions they cannot communicate through words. The nonverbal visual language and colour of Texta, to immediately put a dream to paper, marks it as a medium of psychological exploration. With my Texta pen in hand, any colour is ready to capture any image my mind can come up with.

Textas have transformed from the simple maligned art ‘training wheels’ on some supposed journey to more complicated and ‘sophisticated’ mediums, becoming their own artistic destination. The language and philosophy of the humble Texta is one of our zeitgeists. In our increasingly visually saturated complex world, the humble Texta stands tall as the tool of artistic liberation, democracy and psychological exploration. Further, as sustainability of artistic practice has become increasingly urgent in a rising tide of unaffordability, the humble Texta pen is one medium that will always be in reach for artists of all kinds. This groundbreaking survey exhibition of the use of Textas in contemporary drawing shows how many young artists see Textas as a medium that speaks to a generation.

To the humble Texta pen, I say stand tall and proud. Your worth is so much more than your price tag. Thank you for always being there for me and all the artists who use you.

Jeremy Smith

© October 2023