On Paper

Stalke Galleri had the pleasure of presenting the project “ON PAPER”, an exhibition showing works on paper exclusively.

75 artists presented in the exhibition were primarily connected to galleries with which Stalke Galleri had established relationships or close collaborations. The exhibition also offered the opportunity to invite a number of younger artists.

Due to the large number of participating artists, “ON PAPER” made it possible to present several of the many directions within young contemporary international art at the time.

Another motivation for presenting “ON PAPER” was to draw greater attention to this medium. During the exhibition, Stalke Galleri produced a 36-page “ON PAPER” catalogue, with the majority of the illustrations taken directly from the exhibition.

The catalogue became available in December.

Curator: Sam Jedig
Hanging: Nils Erik Gjerdevik

Installation view from the 1999 exhibition On Paper at Stalke Galleri showing Nils Erik Gjerdevik, Kim Bendixen and Sam Jedig during setup.

Catalogue cover for the 1999 exhibition On Paper at Stalke Galleri

In her review of ON PAPER at Stalke Galleri, Camilla A. Stockmann described the exhibition as one of the most compelling art experiences in Copenhagen that month. Hidden away in the courtyard off Vesterbrogade, the gallery space revealed a dense and surprising presentation of paper-based works by 75 Danish and international artists.

Stockmann emphasized that the strength of the exhibition lay in its refusal to become predictable. Rather than grouping works by style or nationality, Stalke Galleri allowed the artworks to “collide” visually, creating close encounters that sharpened the viewer’s attention and encouraged slow looking. The show avoided superficial name-dropping and instead foregrounded how differently paper could be treated, interpreted, and transformed.

She noted that paper, although a fragile and basic medium, never became a mere theme or message in itself. Instead, artists approached it through widely varying strategies—ranging from collage and drawing to series-based investigations—demonstrating paper’s versatility without reducing it to a single aesthetic category. As Stockmann observed, the medium was continually “split into subgenres,” expanding rather than limiting artistic expression

The exhibition also invited active engagement. Viewers could browse and operate slide projectors themselves, reinforcing the sense that ON PAPER functioned as an exploratory space rather than a fixed display. Stockmann highlighted this openness as a defining quality of the show.

In conclusion, she characterized ON PAPER as an experience akin to entering a sequence of different worlds—comparing it metaphorically to opening a wardrobe and stepping into unfamiliar spaces. With its 75 artists and 75 distinct artistic approaches, the exhibition offered a rich, varied journey through contemporary works on paper.

after Camilla A. Stockmann

Exhibition views from On Paper, Stalke Galleri, 1999, showing a wide range of drawings and works on paper by 75 international artists.

In his review of ON PAPER at Stalke Galleri, art critic Ole Nørlyng described the exhibition as a vibrant and generous presentation of contemporary drawing practices, bringing together works by 75 young international artists. He emphasized how the exhibition foregrounded drawing not as a secondary medium, but as an autonomous and exploratory form with its own energy and urgency.

Nørlyng noted that the works ranged from spontaneous sketches and private notations to more conceptually driven and carefully executed pieces. He pointed out that many of the drawings functioned as forms of self-examination or reflection, engaging with everyday experiences and intimate gestures. As he observed, the exhibition was filled with what he called “energy, play, idea-making, and questioning,” highlighting drawing as both a process and a mode of thinking.

The review also drew attention to the curatorial strategy. According to Nørlyng, curator Sam Jedig, together with artist Nils Erik Gjerdevik, emphasized the processual and unpretentious nature of drawing by suspending works from the ceiling or placing them low on panels, creating a physical and perceptual closeness between viewer and work. This installation strategy reinforced the sense that drawing was something immediate and lived rather than monumental.

Nørlyng further remarked that, despite the wide range of artistic approaches—from serial works and comic-inspired imagery to minimal conceptual gestures—the exhibition achieved a strong overall coherence. Rather than focusing on individual artists, the strength of ON PAPER lay in what he described as its “kaleidoscopic totality,” where the accumulation of diverse voices formed a compelling whole.

He concluded by characterizing ON PAPER as an exhibition that invited active looking and visual exploration, one that encouraged audiences to engage with drawing as a daily, open-ended practice. As the exhibition’s guiding idea suggested, it was an invitation to “give us today our daily drawing.”

based on a review by Ole Nørlyng, Berlingske Tidende

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