DAS BLATT by Curated Affairs centers on the medium of drawing, focusing exemplarily on the current art scene between the Rhineland (Maess Anand and Arno Beck) and Berlin (Paula Doepfner, Sławomir Elsner, Caroline Kryzecki, and Ignacio Uriarte). The exhibition is accompanied by a series of lectures by the author and philosopher Alexander Konrad.
Until the Renaissance, drawing played a secondary role and was merely classified as a basis and aid for subsequent disciplines of painting, sculpture, and architecture. It was only from the fifteenth century onwards that it emancipated itself from being a preliminary activity for other media to become an autonomous art form and to present itself in contemporary art with self-confidence, individuality, and an independent focus. Media-oriented exhibitions such as Drawing Now (Albertina, Vienna, 2015), Walk The Line! (Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2015), and three shows on The Future of Drawing (Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, 2017, 2018, 2019), as well as art fairs such as Art on Paper (New York) and paper positions (Berlin, Basel, Munich) postulate their position on drawing in the present and strengthen the recognition and status of the medium.
DAS BLATT presents the fascinating range of the genre, which comprises abstract, investigative, and conceptual approaches, includes processual and installation-based works, combines and contrasts delicately and quietly with powerfully gestural and technically executed drawings. Furthermore, the show features works that go beyond the typical “underlay”—das Blatt (the sheet of paper), which provides the title of the exhibition— and make use of cross-disciplinary techniques.
Due to the current pandemic situation, the project will not take place in Düsseldorf as initially planned, but as part of an online exhibition. In addition to a presentation of thematically curated works of art, the focus is on complementary intimate and personal contributions by the artists themselves, as well as comments and involvement by some of their companions, some of which were produced especially for DAS BLATT. Viewers can expect live broadcasts, time-lapse videos, installation views, and podcasts. Last but not least, DAS BLATT presents the selected works and the artists individually and simultaneously in a mutual dialogue.
