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I consider drawing the central subject of my work. Rooted in a passion to delineate my intimate surroundings with pencil on paper, I have come to understand drawing in terms of its fragility and ephemerality.Yet, it is precisely this quality that I use to reinforce the power inherent in drawing materials. By shifting my drawings across various supports and media—from notebook collections to autonomous drawings, to digital media rearranged and translated according to different rules and points of reference—the transition from one medium to another reveals how essential it is to regard drawing as a tool for developing a practice centered on search and experimentation.This is especially evident in my digital animations, like the one presented at the festival. In this piece, two screens display an evolving drawing that transforms over 6013 frames, or 4 minutes and 1 second. Each frame introduces subtle shifts in the positions of 6013 lines, constantly creating new, fleeting forms. This continuous transformation embodies the ephemerality of drawing, while also underscoring its potential to evolve, reshape, and generate new meaning. Through this rhythmic flow, drawing becomes a temporal, ever-changing process rather than a static image, mirroring the experimental nature of my artistic practice.
Steven Baelen (b. 1981) is a draftsman living and working in Ghent, Belgium. Drawing occupies a central place in his work. The small yet significant shifts that occur in daily life, whether in his home or studio, provide him with a continuous impetus to revisit and refine his drawings. Often described as "over-determined," his drawings develop a "skin-like" quality, which becomes the focus when he transitions his work to wall drawings, digital media, or painting.Steven graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK), Ghent (2006), and the Higher Institute of Fine Arts (HISK), Ghent (2010). He is also an alumnus of the JUNGE AKADEMIE (2011), where he developed the artist book DER RAUM IM VERZUG, which included an invitation to copy pages 7 to 54 onto a single sheet of paper. The Junge Akademie is part of the Berlin Akademie der Künste (AdK). In 2014, Steven was shortlisted for the MAC International Prize, where he created a wall drawing that explored aspects of physical spaces, both real and imagined. MAC International is the largest arts prize in Ireland and one of the most prestigious in the United Kingdom. In 2016, he was awarded Laureate in the Arts category by the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB). This prize is awarded to promising researchers or artists by each of the Academy’s four classes. Steven Baelen’s work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Belgium and internationally. https://stevenbaelen.com/https://www.instagram.com/steven_baelen/
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