Glynn Vivian has been part of the British Museum’s inaugural project to co-curate an exhibition with partner museums from around the UK to display and then tour contemporary artworks from its Prints and Drawings collection. Pushing paper: contemporary drawing from 1970 to now will illustrate how artists experiment with the power of paper to express their ideas, pushing the medium in new directions. It will highlight the breadth and quality of the Museum’s collection of modern art, as well as its global scope. The exhibition of 56 works will showcase the astonishing diversity of contemporary drawing over the last fifty years, with graphic work by artists such as David Hockney, Rachel Whiteread, Sol LeWitt, Anish Kapoor, Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry, as well as exciting works by emerging artists like Hamid Sulaiman and Rachel Duckhouse. Many of these pieces will be on public display for the first time, including work by Gwen Hardie, Jonathan Callan and Jan Vanriet.
Pushing paper is one of the British Museum’s first exhibitions to focus exclusively on drawing from the 1970s to the modern day. Amongst the oldest forms of human creativity, drawing is experiencing a resurgence in popularity as artists increasingly choose the medium as a means to examine the modern world, with topics ranging from explorations of gender and political activism to questions of belonging and human sexuality. Grouped into thematic areas examining Identity, Place and Space, Time and Memory, Power and Protest, and Systems and Process, the display seeks to highlight artists’ affinities through the medium of drawing, despite their differing locations, styles and periods, and to examine why drawing continues to thrive and evolve as a means of artistic expression.
A selection of works from the Glynn Vivian’s Collection will sit alongside the works from the British Museum.
Generously supported by the Bridget Riley Art Foundation
