Why did you decide to focus this year’s Prize on artists who may be said to belong to the Art Brut or Outsider Art movement? 

It’s not simply a passing fancy. We have been looking at these artists who cultivate a sense of drawing, of line, and a need to communicate their vision of the world in a totally unique manner for a long time. Moreover, we have already purchased pieces by Luboš Plný, who works with absolute precision and rigour, questioning his relationship with language and the human body. This merges with our passion for drawing representing a primal gesture, completely magnified by these artists. It is often their principal means of expression, devoid of filters, and one may consider that the same intensity emanated from the art of prehistoric men. Likewise, through their obsessive, compulsive character, the three nominees bear witness to a rare sensibility. .

How did you come to choose Pascal Leyder, Mehrdad Rashidi and Melvin Way, this year’s three nominees? 

As in the past, the members of our selection committee chose them, aided by their numerous conversations with Bruno Decharme, who has collected Outside Art for several decades. We then went to La “S” Grand Atelier, near Liège, an Art Brut centre that generously helps these creators. Thus, as usual, we visited studios, researched both the artists and the works, of which everyone gave their impressions. 

Could one say that it was ultimately a decision based on aesthetics and form?  

Even if we are naturally interested in personal histories, what appealed to us most were the actual drawings… Pascal Leyder’s ports invite us on a journey and take us to Venice or to the age of 18th-century prints, while Mehrdad Rashidi constucts fascinating characters, linked to natural elements, on extremely varied supports. His inspiration may be seen to come from Persian miniatures. As for Melvin Way, his work on maps and small formats leads us towards a quasi-computerised, dehumanised world. It’s very perceptive. 

Won’t it be even harder to judge and decide between these artists? 

This edition of our Drawing Prize will notably affect everyone’s sensibilities. Since our jury includes two collectors of Outsider Art as well as two psychiatrists, the debates promise to be intense! But we genuinely come back to the work itself and what is represented, that is to say to the very essence of the drawing. That also brings us back to the feeling we experience on discovering an artist whom we do not know, yet who may instantly take our breath away, without any preconceptions! !

         Interview Marie Maertens