DRAW NOW [fragments 5]

DRAW NOW [fragments 5]

Gallery Aula UAP, building A, 1st floor
Opening: 24.04.2025, 18:00
Duration of exhibition: 24.04- 10.05.2025

Curators: Martyna Rzepecka, Aleksandra Sojak-Borodo (Faculty of Fine Arts, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun)
Coordination: Witold Pochylski, Marek Szary (Faculty of Fine Arts, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun)

Participants: Nikola Adamik, Barbara Bodio, Patryk Brzezicki, Krzyś Bykowski, Todd East, Magdalena Jagodzka, Zuzanna Janosz, Karyna Kalinka, Kacper Kaszuba, Annamária Kmetyó, Karol Klugowski, Barbara Kuchnowska, Marcelina Lecznarowicz, Zofia Lompe, Zuzanna Ludwig, Antonina Makowska, Emil Mamedov, Olena Matoshniuk, Maria Nowicka, Kinga Tecmer and Natalia Pastusiak, Wojciech Reszka, Wiktoria Sendurkiewicz, Michał Sikora, Magdalena Skrolecka, Katarzyna Sporn, Maja Stankiewicz, Joanna Suppan, Natalia Suwaj, Anna Szczepaniak, Miłosz Tomkowicz, Margerita Voulissa and Stell Pičman, Agata Żółkoś.

The exhibition DRAW NOW [fragments 5] is a presentation of selected works by laureates of
this year’s 11th International Student Drawing Exhibition – DRAW, which took place in the
spring of 2024 at the Wozownia Art Gallery in Toruń. The beginnings of the DRAW
exhibitions date back to 2008. Its originator is Prof. Bogdan Chmielewski, and the
organization of subsequent editions is handled by people working at the Department of
Drawing at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Initially,
the exhibition took the form of annual nationwide shows presenting the exchange of drawing-
related experiences of academic centers and art faculties and institutes. Since 2014, it has
taken the form of an international biennial. From the beginning of its organization, the
selection of works for the exhibition has been carried out through a competition. The
exhibition is presented in the Wozownia Art Gallery, which has been a co-organizer of the
exhibition from the beginning, in the Galleries of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Nicolaus
Copernicus University in Toruń and at shows in Poland and abroad. Each edition of the
competition is accompanied by an expansion of the main slogan – RYSOWAĆ, which is given
to young artists for visual commentary. This year’s edition was titled DRAW NOW. Reaching
into the dictionary, we will find the following synonyms for the word “Now”: currently,
contemporarily, today, just, at this moment, this time, before the eyes of the world, before our
eyes. These words became a proposal and a hint for this year’s competition theme – the 11th
edition of the International Student Drawing Exhibition – DRAW NOW. The first association
with “Draw Now” is that of showing the current state of drawing, answering the questions:
How do you draw now? What are the topics, techniques, ways of approaching drawing in the
works of people studying art? Will AI replace artists? “Draw Now” can also be understood as
a drawing reaction to what is happening before our eyes, drawing can become a way of
noting, recording “Now”, but also reacting to the current reality. This understanding of the
slogan focuses on its somewhat intuitive reading. “Now” can be considered from yet another
perspective: by considering the nature of time and referring to concepts from areas such as
philosophy or physics. If we look at it from this perspective, the definition cannot be
contained in one word, and the questions “What is Now?” “Does only Now exist?” take us to
the area of ​​books, articles, polemics leading to various answers. Remaining in the area of ​​a
more analytical approach to the subject, we can reach practices related to mindfulness –
“immersing oneself in the now” and drawing strength from the present moment as the only
one that we are able to experience sensually. Finally, in the 11th edition of the competition,
the International Exhibition of Student Drawing – DRAW NOW, we invited a broad reflection
on what drawing is today? As usual, we did not limit the technique or format, we are
interested in both classic and unconventional drawing, digital drawing, animation and video
productions, conceptual solutions, performance, or projects related to space. This year, the

11th International Student Drawing Exhibition – DRAW NOW received a record number of
entries – 409 from Poland and abroad, including Slovenia, Hungary, Germany, Ukraine,
Portugal and the Netherlands. Ultimately, 90 works were presented at the exhibition. The
Young Artists represented 25 universities from Poland and abroad (ASP Gdańsk, ASP
Katowice, ASP Łódź, ASP Warsaw, ASP Wrocław, ASP Kraków, UAP Poznań, Art Faculties:
UMK Toruń, UR Rzeszów, UŚ Cieszyn, UKEN Kraków, UMCS Lublin, UJK Kielce, UJD
Częstochowa, Technical Universities: Bydgoszcz and Łódź, Academies of Art: Kharkiv
(Ukraine), Glasgow (UK), Helsinki (Finland), Lubljana (Slovenia), Porto (Portugal),
Universities of Art: Budapest (Hungary), Braunschweig, Dresden (Germany), Leira University
of Technology (Portugal). At the exhibition – DRAW NOW [fragments 5] – in the Aula UAP
Gallery, you will be able to see works from the area of ​​classical drawing, works that use
digital tools, as well as installations, animations, activities performative (individual and
group). Among the works there are several large-format and non-standard proposals, there
are also drawn commentaries referring to everyday situations, current issues, often personal.