THE NEW MEETING PLACE AT VILLA NOAILLES
Building on its experience hosting numerous international competitions in fashion, design, and interior architecture, the Var art center is adding another string to its bow with an annual event focused on drawing. Conceived in collaboration with the biannual magazine The Drawer, this new event will initially take the form of an exhibition.
What does drawing practice look like at the beginning of this century? Villa Noailles attempts to answer this question with a brand-new exhibition entitled "The Drawer: A New Generation of Drawing." It will showcase the work of various artists whose work was published in volume 24 of The Drawer – Under 25, most of whom are fourth- or fifth-year art students in France and abroad. This initial foray will provide an opportunity to take stock of the current state of this discipline. The following year, the very first "Villa Noailles x The Drawer" competition will feature around ten artists, one of whom will be the lucky winner of this inaugural edition.
« “This will be the sixth competition organized by the Villa Noailles,” explains Jean-Pierre Blanc, director of the Villa Noailles and founder of the Hyères Festival and the Design Parade, adding: “It will be open to young artists from art schools around the world, and will present a new generation of illustrators or drawing artists each year in Toulon. This new venture is a natural continuation of what we have done previously in Toulon with the drawing exhibitions dedicated to designers and artists Nathalie Du Pasquier, Pierre Charpin, and Ronan Bouroullec, and also in line with everything we do around design, which is inevitably, at some point, drawn.” »
Just like in fashion and design competitions, this event would be structured around an international competition, a jury, and a winner whose work would be exhibited the year following their victory. The event also draws on The Drawer, the magazine founded by Barbara Soyer and Sophie Toulouse in 2011. “We launched this project thirteen years ago,” explains the first editor, “to promote contemporary drawing and its diverse styles. We published two issues a year, each with a different format, all linked to a general theme to avoid being confined by our selection, while still creating a kind of body of work, comprised of around thirty invited artists. The idea is to mix nationalities and generations, so as not to be limited by a restrictive identity. We have established ourselves on the contemporary drawing scene over the years and have since become a publishing house.” »
This exhibition can be seen within the walls of the Hôtel des Arts TPM in Toulon, and season number 0 of this project is available in paper version, in vol. 24 The Drawer – Under 25, which you should get urgently.
"THE DRAWER. A NEW GENERATION OF DRAWING"
TPM ARTS HOTEL 236, BOULEVARD MARÉCHAL-LECLERC, TOULON
UNTIL FEBRUARY 1, 2025
VILLANOAILLES.COM
HDA-TPM.FR/FR
