Inked In Time

Comprised exclusively of works on paper, the show sets forth a survey on the usage of ink, through watercolours, drawings and prints.

The making and use of ink dates back many millennia. Throughout its rich history, the medium has served as a mean of documentation, safeguarding and artistic expression. In Inked in Time, different contemporary approaches to the medium are put on display, immersing the viewer in the vast diversity of its use.

American artist Richard Hoglund’s (b.1982) work magnifies the interaction of ink and paper. Through natural absorption, trails of the spread of ink are left to be admired. As if made of spilled ink, this polyptych highlights the fluid and marking properties of ink in nuanced shades.

Watercolours by the late Colombian master Fernando Botero (1932 – 2023) are also being shown. A beloved medium by the artist, they are what gave Botero his start. His first works were watercolours of bulls and matadors that he sold to a man who traded tickets to bullfights. Decades later, the creator of Boterismo plays with the delicacy, fluidity, and transparence of the coloured ink to create jovial portraits in his signature style.

Bernar Venet’s (b.1941) etchings bring forth the iconic geometrical style of the artist. Angles and Lines become collapsed, in a study on equilibrium, randomness, and the physical laws ruling our universe. With drypoint ink, the artist creates sharp mathematical lines, contrasted by the nuanced applications of charcoal to create precise yet chaotic compositions.

Works by Fabienne Verdier (b.1962) are spread throughout the gallery, works on paper pulled from her study of the Sainte-Victoire Mountain, France, showcase the characteristic visual style of the artist. Inspired by her decade of learning with the last remaining masters of Chinese calligraphy, large brushstrokes recalling the rocky landscapes are contrasted with colour-blocked backgrounds.

With his series on Alison Lapper, Marc Quinn (b.1964), champions what he calls ‘’a different kind of heroism’’. Modeled after Alison Lapper, a british artist suffering from dysmelia, these drawings evoke the sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant placed in London’s Trafalgar Square. While the square is known for having statues which depict public heroes, namely men of historical importance, for Quinn, the placement of Alison Lapper there celebrates ‘’someone who has conquered their own circumstances, rather than someone who has conquered the outside world’’. Works of his next immediate series Sphinx and Siren, are also shown, these works deal with an opposite concept: the idealized unreal image of the idolized body. Depicting fashion model and media icon Kate Moss, presented here as an idealized figure more akin to a cultural hallucination than an actual person of flesh and blood.

Lastly, whimsical Chinese ink drawings by Pablo Reinoso (b.1955) recall our experiences of lockdown during the COVID pandemic. With his signature use of public infrastructure grown beyond function, Reinoso places characters and abstract shapes to symbolize the dichotomy between distance and interconnected-ness that characterized our lockdowns. The artist imagines a world in perpetual social distance, shaped by sanitary requirements, to deliver a message on the importance of inter-personal relationships.