Mother and daughter. A common passion. A selection from the collection of Christine Phal and Carine Tissot

Christine Phal and Carine Tissot are the entrepreneurs that have made the Parisian contemporary art fair Drawing Now Art Fair thrive for many years. They conceived the Drawing House. They are also mother and daughter.

It is unusual to see such duos working in tandem, isn’t it? From Drawing Now Art Fair to the Drawing Hotel and its Lab on rue de Richelieu, and on to the Drawing House, their passion for art is passed on, shared, but also discussed. These creations - because we can speak of “creating“ here - have significantly changed the Parisian landscape over the past years and have established drawing as an autonomous and incredibly inventive contemporary art form.

Their collections are distinct. They also have different time frames. In Christine Phal’s collection, drawing as an artistic practice appears in a mise en abyme as it explores the incredible variety of styles and supports on the boundaries of its possibilities. Carine Tissot’s collection places great emphasis on women artists, on assertive, even pointed styles, as well as on humor. And yet they unite around the artists that are featured in the Drawing House. Together, they have asked Mathieu Dufois, Alexandre and Florentine Lamarche-Ovize, Daniel Otero Torres, Lucie Picandet and Karine Rougier to contribut (plus Marion Charlet and Jeanne Susplugas, not shown here).

Bringing these two collections together, mirroring them, highlights two distinct groups. One focuses on lines and materials, in black and white, with drawings that push the “line“ to its limit, from Philippe Cognée to Jérôme Zonder. The other looks towards painting: colorful, narrative, with watercolor, it appeals to both visual and mental pleasure through color, from Willys Kezi to Pauline Fondevilla. These two drawing practices meet each other through flatness effects and a tactile experience that delights the gaze as much as the body. Finally, drawing can extend to three-dimensional space, art multiples, and publications, thus demonstrating the laboratorial nature of both collections.