International Paper

Drawing, once considered the most traditional of mediums, has undergone a dramatic renaissance over the past several decades. One of the most personal, immediate, and accessible forms of art, drawings offer insight into the ongoing preoccupations and concerns of the artist who puts his or her ideas onto paper. Today, more and more artists have begun to view drawing as an end in itself rather than as a preparatory phase in service of another medium.

International Paper demonstrates that the medium of drawing continues to play a fresh and vital role in the practice of a younger generation of artists. "Like the Hammer’s 2001 exhibition Snapshot: New Art from Los Angeles, International Paper attempts to give our audience a sense of the richness and diversity of works on paper—and specifically drawings—by contemporary artists in the U.S. and beyond," says exhibition co-curator Claudine Isé. “The exhibition recognizes the fact that drawing is an age-old practice that nevertheless continues to inspire innovation and experimentation among artists today.” The exhibition will survey the range and breadth of contemporary works on paper by a diverse group of twenty-two emerging artists from China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States, while highlighting the work of a number of Los Angeles artists for whom drawing plays an important and ongoing role. It explores the broad range of techniques and approaches that one finds in drawings today—including the use of watercolors, gouache, graphite, and colored pencil, along with paper cut-outs, mixed-media collage, and scored and folded vellum—and includes both representational and abstract works and large- and small-scale drawings. The exhibition was curated by James Elaine, Claudine Isé, and Ann Philbin.