Art On Paper Launches Brussels Drawing Week

Upon searching for the definition of what constitutes a drawing, one already finds the multitude of possibilities the medium contains. It can be made with dry or wet tools, such as pencil, charcoal, chalk, pastel, crayon, pen, ink, watercolour, or oils — and can be created digitally as well as on paper or on other organic or synthetic supports, including parchment, vellum, acetate or even executed directly on a wall, floor, or other surface as a site-specific piece.

For the last 5 years, the Art on Paper fair has focused in on this medium of multitudes, with every edition aiming to contribute to the evolution of the medium by ensuring to highlight inventive approaches. Once again presenting a unique overview of the quality and diversity of contemporary drawing, the Brussels based contemporary drawing fair, in collaboration with BOZAR, offers audiences, art professionals and enthusiasts alike the opportunity to discover this plurality through the presentation of fourty artists’ solo shows selected by established or emerging Belgian and international galleries. A few highlights of this year’s fair include Gonzalo Elvira at RocioSantaCruz, Johan De Wilde at Hopstreet Gallery, Denitsa Todorova at DMW Art Space, Bela Silva’s solo presentation over at TLmag’s sister gallery Spazio Nobile – which also collaborated on another solo-exhibition featuring Amy Hilton, titled ‘In Between‘, at Tour à Plomb

Alongside its aim to show the best that contemporary drawing has to offer, the fair is also known for its continued promotion of the galleries, emerging artists and art professions that let allow for the medium to continue to grow. Every year, this commitment is reflected through the granting of the ”SOFAM Prize for Best Solo Show’’ as well as the “EECKMAN ART PRIZE”, for which the laureate is awarded a production grant and an exhibition booth during the fair. This year’s winner is artist Timo van Grinsven (1985), who was praised by the jury for “the open, humorous and unconventional attitude with which he approaches drawing”. For this year’s edition of Art on Paper, van Grinsven will make a new presentation with an emphasis on drawings that go beyond paper’s boundaries. In his exhibition ‘Automagisch’ — presented at Botanique — a series of original works that are made of materials assembled idiosyncratically into an installation or in a sculpture will be brought together specifically for this year’s edition of Art on Paper and presented to the public for the first time.

Accompanying the main exhibition is the fair’s new Brussels Drawing Week initiative, which offers a dense programme filled with artist talks, exhibitions, workshops, performances and guided tours held in more than 20 major Brussels art institutions, centres or schools. In a programme that further extends the borders and possibilities of drawing — whether it be on paper or go beyond it — but also includes the city that it’s based in, this year’s edition of Art on Paper is sure to be one to remember.

Art on Paper will take place at BOZAR from the 25th to the 28th of October, whereas Brussels Design Week will run from the 22nd until the 27th of October 2019.

http://artonpaper.be/

www.drawingweek.brussels

Cover Photo: Timo van Grinsven, Je suis mon ami at CAB Brussel, 2016