Drawing is representative mark making. It can be a skilled craft, or a preliminary practice, and is often both. In the case of The Drawing (Paper) Show, it’s more. Drawing as outcome; as product; as conversation; as activity; as idea; as installation; as performance; as literature.
Underpinned by 9th edition of the Drawing Paper, eight years since the 8th edition, the exhibition sent a call out into the world, asking for artists who worked in a finished medium of drawing to share their work for an exhibition that clarified exactly what the value of mark making can be.
Importantly, there is no stuffy what-aboutery in this show. It’s entirely open to interpretation, offering drawing in all mediums to consideration, and supported by workshops from inspirational drawing initiatives from around the country.
Colette Lilley and Sarah Jane Richards, the curators who have pulled this exhibition together with the support of Jon Barraclough and Mike Carney of the Drawing Paper, wrote that the exhibition could be viewed as ‘drawing for drawing’s sake’.
Initially I was put on the back foot, and slightly outraged. Why? Why would two artists who draw for so much more than drawing’s sake offer that as their reasoning here? Why would hundreds of artists submit their work to a show that they believe was pulled together for the sake of the end result?
Having seen it in person, and spoken to artists from the show, curators, producers and gallery staff, I think I got it completely wrong. There is nothing in this exhibition that should be described that way, but if it was, would it be any less valuable? Would drawing, for the sake of drawing, be less of an outcome than painting?
No.
Not at all. As proved by literally every boundary-blurring work in this exhibition, there is no less value to drawing for drawing’s sake, than of art for art’s sake. And there is no boundary between drawing as a craft and drawing as an art form, regardless of how those marks were made.
I missed the opening night, and I’m glad I did. It’s an exhibition built from the work of fifty artists. Launch events are not natural ways to see work, and can lead to most of it being missed entirely, so I had a chance to see things slowly.
There’s work, albeit on a smaller scale than usual, from John Moores Painting Prize artists, and artists recognised the world over. Work from artists whose work I’ve known since I was a child. There is work from artists who haven’t yet exhibited outside of Instagram. The exhibition deserves not just time, but effort. There are workshops led by brilliant artists over the next couple of weeks that offer an opportunity to be part of the show, and the questions it poses.
The Drawing (Paper) Show is a stunningly eclectic mix, but it makes for a cleverly coherent one. If you haven’t been to Bridewell this year, it’s worth a visit before this show is over. It uses their new gallery space perfectly but with an elegant relationship to the old, more intimate gallery.
Unusually for an Independents Biennial event in 2023, by the time this goes to print, you will still be able to see the show, as it’s the longest running exhibition at Bridewell Studios this summer, open until 13th August.
