Reaction at a distance : Collaborative Drawings

Galerie Trois-Points is thrilled to expose the works of Kristin Bjornerud and Erik Jerezano stemming from a collaborative project. The exhibition Reaction at a distance: collaborative drawings, which will take place between November 20th and December 18th, illustrates their shared keen interest in storytelling and the value of symbolic language.

Their collaborative project is essentially a correspondence through drawing. Separately, each of them begins a set of drawings to be exchanged through the mail and completed by the other. When they started the work a year ago, the guidelines they laid out for themselves were quite simple: there would be no rules about how they could alter the original piece and there would be no quitting whatever the results. This sharing back and forth without boundaries allowed them to work without inhibition.

The artists met in person every few months to complete the works, discuss the results, and give them titles. During these encounters, they were often surprised by the transformations that had taken place on the page and were amazed by the narrative possibilities that emerged from the combination of their different styles and perspectives.

Although there are important differences that affect how one approaches a work of art based on one’s gender, language, cultural identity and personal politics, there is an inherent balance in the artists’ works which seems to bring out the strongest elements in their respective styles. The process always involves drawing on top and into each other’s works, thus causing an inherent transformation of each piece into a true hybrid.

Their drawings migrate toward unforeseeable and bizarre territory. Masquerade, disguise, and metamorphosis are some of the themes that have emerged. Where their drawings overlap and get inside of each other, becoming or pretending to be something else, there is an uncanny sense of the familiar. Some of the images relate back to subjects they used separately in their respective practices and others seem to arrive uniquely from this union. The result is a well-balanced juxtaposition between a delicate and meticulous approach to watercolor painting and a bold drawing style that is at once expressive and illustrative.

Press release