‘ART ON PAPER 2018’

Drawing has, for some decades, affirmed its legitimacy and its autonomy. It no longer suffers from the status of a prerequisite or a peripheral device to which it has long been assigned, and henceforth exposes its own qualities. This advent as a medium has paradoxically allowed it to widen its field, to extend beyond the frame of the sheet, to extricate from it sometimes, to return to it with delight too, to borrow or even to assimilate the tools and procedures specific to other areas in order to (re)play the concepts of line, gesture, trace, expression, projection, writing, etc., and, finally, to question its very definition. Since inception, Art On Paper has been taking stock of the variety and diversity of contemporary approaches to design - their inventiveness and timeliness. To do this, the show offers different audiences, amateurs or professionals, to discover this plurality through solo shows of artists. This is the main principle of the show, its specificity renewed every year, with conviction, since 2015: one booth, one gallery, one e-artist. Thus, for 5 days, 50 Belgian and international galleries are investing BOZAR exhibition spaces to offer, in the heart of Brussels, 50 SOLO SHOWS from established and emerging artists: the best of contemporary drawing. Building on the success of its last three editions, Art On Paper is moving into the prestigious “ Ravenstein Circuit ”, always in collaboration with BOZAR, and has new side projects to reflect the most current creation and the most experimental practices in terms of drawing.

Therefore Art On Paper is committed to promote, alongside established names, emerging galleries, but also to support young artists and young art professionals: support that includes the granting, each year, of the “EECKMAN ART PRIZE” whose laureate is endowed with a grant and an exhibition on the show. Novelty of the 2018 edition, Art On Paper welcomes, among the 50 SOLO SHOWS, 6 young artists represented by 6 young structures (recently opened galleries or more associative initiatives) in a common space, curated by the artistic direction according to an approach both collaborative and processual: the PROJECT SPACE. 

Finally, the show also offers a number of SIDE PROJECTS (talks, podcasts, installations, video programming). More than ever, Art On Paper is all in the affirmed ambition to assert the line, without fear of deflecting it.