Through drawing, we have domesticated parts of the world, replicated the other, recorded time, and brought the stars closer. Drawing has been our companion in the attempt to grasp what is beyond us, and has given us the illusion of being part of and possessing the vastness. It has been abstraction, tool, and companionship in the face of immensity.

We do not know exactly what drawing is. We consider it to be a path of knowledge and, as such, change its form each time individual questions are combined with the sensibilities of the era.

We believe it began with a line, perhaps on the ground, perhaps as thread, perhaps on a rock. We imagine that the lines joined together on surfaces, spread out into streets and constellations, rose up and created orchards and cities. That is why we sense that this way of knowing and experiencing the world is limitless in its expressions and means. It may appear as lines and shadows on the surface of paper, but also in the insistence of footsteps, in the writing of words, in the sunlight on branches, in the noise of a television, in the stitches of a seam.

The group exhibition ‘Trazar el mundo. Acercar el firmamento’ (To trace the world. To bring the firmament closer) consists of pieces selected from an open call asking artists to share their experiences of drawing without limiting themselves to any particular technique, continuing La Balsa Arte’s close relationship with this discipline since its origins.

-Andrea Domínguez