Luminous Language

"Drawing is a struggle between nature and the artist, in which the better the artist understands the intentions of nature, the more easily he will triumph over it. For him it is not a question of copying, but of interpreting in a simpler and more luminous language."

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), The Salon of 1846, VII: On the Ideal and the Model (1846)

Though the traditional medium of pencil on paper continues to be a mainstay of drawing, in the expanded field of contemporary practice, artists are using an ever-widening range of media in order to experiment with their ideas and themes. And while drawing is still used as a starting point or a kind of shorthand in the development of work in other media, increasingly, many artists are seeing it as the core of their work.

Luminous Language, curated by Vane, explores the great variety of contemporary drawing through the work of artists from the UK, Europe and the USA. Whether using pencil, paint, collage, photography or video, these works give us an insight into each artist's working method and their individual artistic visions.