Art Basel OVR:20c: On paper

Galerie Lelong & Co. (Paris and New York), are pleased to participate in Art Basel "OVR:20c", with On paper, an online showcase dedicated to works made during the previous century that will run from October 28 to 31, 2020.

Our presentation includes works on paper by Etel Adnan, Pierre Alechinsky, Günther Förg, Ana Mendieta, Hélio Oiticica, and Michelle Stuart. Each artist sourced and employed paper for its formal and inventive qualities, as a medium equal to canvas for their expression, and for some, its political potential. 

In the 1970s, towards the end of the war in Vietnam and before the civil war started in Lebanon, Etel Adnan left California for her native Beirut. There, she became a journalist while remaining a painter and was significantly engaged in the defense of peace in a troubled period. Adnan made a series of small works on paper, depicting seemingly abstract compositions with pastel strokes to create poetic landscapes.

As early as the mid-1960s, Pierre Alechinsky decided to work exclusively on paper mounted on canvas; using predominantly Chinese paper, with acrylic paint and India ink. Dernier coucher (1975) is a superb and vividly colored painting, freshly released from the artist’s studio.

Günther Förg carefully chose the size of the sheet in relation with the composition. The paper’s surface and its size were integral to his idea. In this characteristic work from 1994, he wove acrylic brushstrokes into a texture that attracts the viewer deep inside the space of the painting, beyond the surface grid.

Galerie Lelong & Co. (Paris and New York), are pleased to participate in Art Basel "OVR:20c", with On paper, an online showcase dedicated to works made during the previous century that will run from October 28 to 31, 2020.

Our presentation includes works on paper by Etel Adnan, Pierre Alechinsky, Günther Förg, Ana Mendieta, Hélio Oiticica, and Michelle Stuart. Each artist sourced and employed paper for its formal and inventive qualities, as a medium equal to canvas for their expression, and for some, its political potential. 

In the 1970s, towards the end of the war in Vietnam and before the civil war started in Lebanon, Etel Adnan left California for her native Beirut. There, she became a journalist while remaining a painter and was significantly engaged in the defense of peace in a troubled period. Adnan made a series of small works on paper, depicting seemingly abstract compositions with pastel strokes to create poetic landscapes.

As early as the mid-1960s, Pierre Alechinsky decided to work exclusively on paper mounted on canvas; using predominantly Chinese paper, with acrylic paint and India ink. Dernier coucher (1975) is a superb and vividly colored painting, freshly released from the artist’s studio.

Günther Förg carefully chose the size of the sheet in relation with the composition. The paper’s surface and its size were integral to his idea. In this characteristic work from 1994, he wove acrylic brushstrokes into a texture that attracts the viewer deep inside the space of the painting, beyond the surface grid.