Art in times of crisis, is it a refuge or does it serve as a catalyst for reality? With the interest of continuing to create a meeting space for illustration artists, Pictoline convened the second edition of the Illustration Biennial and decided to open its call this year for all of Latin America. At the first appointment, in 2018, more than 4,000 applications were presented in Mexico alone and more than 12,000 people visited the exhibition with the selected works at the Digital Culture Center of Mexico City.
"We decided to make the biennial bigger and open up to Latin America because we want to collect the large number of images that exist in other countries, with different techniques and innovations, different points of view so that a great dialogue is established between the illustrators of the region", explains to Verne Kenia Nárez, director of the Biennial of Illustration. “A prize was needed that would generate union, dialogue and criticism around the illustration. An award that was dedicated to the illustrator as an author, ”says Nárez.
After decades of being considered a minor art, illustration has managed to break the utilitarian barrier of being part of a text or being an advertising element, to fully enter galleries, the publishing industry, design and fashion. "The authors of the illustration have their own ideas and their way of expressing them with different techniques has led this medium to be considered an art," says the director of the biennial.
This year's winners in the physical and virtual categories will receive a prize of $ 4,500. There will also be a special award of $ 1,000 for the best artist under 25. The deadline for submitting papers ends on May 7.
The jury for this edition is made up of internationally renowned illustrators: Liniers, Tara McPherson, Yuko Shimizu, Victo Ngai and Jeremyville. In the midst of the pandemic and waiting for the sanitary conditions to improve, the organizers hope to expose the work of the selected artists at the Digital Culture Center next September, at which time this year's winners will be announced. In addition, the selection can be viewed virtually through the contest website and a book with all the works will be published.
"We hope that the union will become more united in this highly technological era and that people interested in illustration will be able to discover authors, get to know them better and generate a dialogue with them," adds Kenia Nárez. Latin American illustrators are sought to tell what is happening in the region.
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