Drawing Now

Double Blind

9 April 2012

One last soul to remember from Drawing Now (with all those Rulliers, Carrasquers, Bezanics, Zsakos or Rumseys) was a Valencian artist represented by the Madrilian gallery Fernando Pradilla (one of the very few foreign galleries to attend the event). We’re talking about Moisés Mahiques’ Double-blind paintings.

Moises Mahiques - Paradise-Valley - 2011
Moises Mahiques - Paradise-Valley - 2011
Moises Mahiques - White Fight - 2011
Moises Mahiques - White Fight - 2011

Pencil, ink & acrylic compositions with an undefined number of individuals represented in the most chaotic (and often erotic) situations, vicious circles of homo fantasies, sexual excesses and hyper-violent states of mind captured in their purest forms… radicalism was never so beautiful and relaxing, maybe that’s why his paintings are so popular within hospitals and waiting rooms?

Moises-Mahiques-Violence-Happening-Location-Mural-painting-in-Valencia-2009
Moises-Mahiques-Violence-Happening-Location-Mural-painting-in-Valencia-2009
  share news item

Ulrich Kochinke’s beliefs

7 April 2012
Ulrich Kochinke (Fruehsorge gallery)
Ulrich Kochinke (Fruehsorge gallery)

One another  highlight from last weekend’s Drawing Now Parisian fair were some of the works presented by the Berlin-based contemporary drawings gallery FruehsorgeUlrich Kochinke pencil on paper drawings occupying big part of the gallery stand space were amongst the most captivating pieces of the event mixing good doses of realism, pop and religious elements in his drawings.

Ulrich Kochinke - Ankunft - 2010 (Image via Fruehsorge gallery)
Ulrich Kochinke - Ankunft - 2010 (Image via Fruehsorge gallery)

One of the few times his works travel & get exhibited outside Germany for the Gronau-born artist whose  catholic theology studies (just before his art studies) play a sometimes perturbing influence on his works.

Large format (almost) life-sized pencil drawings combining holy & profane, spiritual & worldly, old memories and personal impressions in highly coded compositions that examine and question the   contradiction of faith and world order.

Ulrich Kochinke - Ohne Titel - 2010 (Image via Fruehsorge gallery)
Ulrich Kochinke - Ohne Titel - 2010 (Image via Fruehsorge gallery)

Even though Drawing Now is over, you can still get to see his works @ the Berlin gallery or until may @ Meißen’s Kunstverein Meissen gallery too. Enjoy the weekend prayers!

  share news item

Cavaliers de l’Apocalypse

3 April 2012

There were many good (and many baaad) drawings last weekend @ the Parisian Drawing Now fair,  many welcoming and many “stupid” art gallery owners, a few art magazines advertising their wonderful publications… and quite a lot of people. We’ll be focusing on some of those new (and not so new) artists in the coming days, starting with one of the best drawings in the exhibition: Jean Bedez’s “Cavaliers de l’Apocalypse”.

Jean Bedez - Cavaliers de l'Apocalypse - 2011
Jean Bedez - Cavaliers de l'Apocalypse - 2011

Hard to miss one of the biggest pieces in the whole fair, and also one of the most politically-engaged. This first piece of four taken from his “Horsemen of the Apocalypse”  series and which has been exhibited last year all around Paris is Jean’s own interpretation of the passage from the Bible’s Book of Revelation: the end of the world as seen through our contemporary society.

The scene takes place in one of the conference rooms during the 33rd G8 meeting organised in Heiligendamm (Germany) 5 years ago.

Jean Bedez - Collection Leaders - 2007
Jean Bedez - Collection Leaders - 2007

A  lot has rained since right? Europe is about to collapse and our leaders keep printing notes like there was no tomorrow.

While Jean Bedez’s (represented by the Parisian Suzanne Tarasieve Gallery btw) artistic expressions tend to materialize on paintings he’s experimented and tried a varied number of practices from sculpture to aural and visual pieces. He seems pretty interested in the petty games dominant cultures play to stay dominant, power relationships, political history… and our roles as citizens in this complex puzzle.

Jean Bedez - Collection Leaders (4) - 2007
Jean Bedez - Collection Leaders (4) - 2007

Most of his works are available on his page but Suzanne Tarasiève gallery also has big part of his portfolio available on-line. Enjoy!

  share news item

Drawing Now

25 March 2012

Quick reminder! Only 4 days to go until the 6th edition of the Parisian “Drawing Now” art fair opens!

FEDERICO SOLMI - poster for Chinese Democracy
FEDERICO SOLMI - poster for Chinese Democracy

15€ are a bit too much if you ask us, but this is one of those “unique” European art fairs that much like Madrid’s Estampa and to some extent Frieze, allows you to discover the freshest in contemporary art… only this time, the fair is only dedicated to the art of drawing.

82 international galleries will show during 4 days the contemporary artistic scene through the drawings of well-known and emerging artists, where? right under the most important museum in the city: The Louvre. The renovated mini-chic-mall “Carrousel du Louvre” will host the biggest part of the exhibition with the focus on “Reference” (focus on 70 well‐established galleries), “Emergence” (a dozen of recently opened galleries presenting the art of “emerging artists”), “Video” ( curated by the Show’s team with the support of Brett Littman), and “Talks” which is a first for the fair… a programme of encounters with artists, collectors and institutions.

Drawing Now Paris - 2011 edition (bis)
From Drawing Now Paris - 2011 edition (bis)

Also very important to notice the always impressive “Hors les murs” (outdoors) side of the exhibition which this year takes place very close by, at 17 rue Richelieu (a 5min walk from the Carrousel). A 2-storey building transformed by artists and willing to become a “giant contemporary drawing laboratory”. Mmmm we’ll see.

Here’s the list of talks, and for a full view of the program itself, (and while we wait for this year’s Drawing Now award announcement), we highly recommend you visit their page.

  share news item