This editorial compilation highlights a series of exhibitions and artist profiles focusing on the intimate relationship between drawing, painting, and conceptual process. Key features include Francis Alÿs’s 'The Gibraltar Projects,' which utilizes a multidisciplinary approach—including shoe-boat performances by children—to critique geopolitical borders and the contradictions of global migration. Alÿs describes his drawings and paintings as the 'allegorical' counterparts to his public actions, capturing the fantasies and failures that physical reality cannot accommodate.
Additionally, the collection showcases Mary Heilmann’s 'Daydream Nation' at Hauser & Wirth, curated by Gary Simmons, which explores drawing as a vehicle for memory and geometric abstraction. The survey also touches upon the expressive mixed-media works of Jorge Galindo and the ruminative, 'mining' process of Georg Baselitz. Together, these entries underscore a contemporary trend where works on paper serve as both the foundational 'drilling' for larger ideas and a distinct language for exploring philosophical and personal landscapes.