PARIS.- From March 19th through 23rd, artparis, the international art fair, celebrates modern and contemporary art in all its forms, reuniting 130 international galleries at the historical Grand Palais in Paris.

On this occasion, contemporary drawing is awarded a place of honor with the Prize for Contemporary Drawing of the Daniel and Florence Guerlain Foundation. Launched at the moment of artparis 06, the prize aims to underline the importance of this discipline that lies at the source of any creation in the contemporary art world today. The prize further permits the selected artist to follow his creative practice.

A commission - composed of Daniel and Florence Guerlain, collectors, Emmanuelle Brugerolles, curator of the drawing department at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Gabrielle Salomon, collector, Jonas Storsve, conservationist in the department of graphic art of the Musée national d’art moderne and Carel Van Tuyll, head of the department of graphic arts at the Musée du Louvre – worked together to research artists, either French or of other nationality, living in France or not, who maintain close cultural ties with France and for whom unique drawings on paper constitute a significant aspect of their production.

The three artists who have been nominated are Frédérique Loutz, Jorge Queiroz and Sandra Vasquez de la Horra.

Frédérique Loutz was born in 1974 in Sarreguemines. She lives and works in Berlin. A slender young woman, she puts her shyness aside and expresses human passions on the blank page with derision, subtlety and occasionally with violence. She is represented in France by gallery Claudine Papillon and in Greece by Thanassis Frissiras Gallery.

Born in Lisbon in 1966, Jorge Queiroz lives and works in Berlin. His drawings draw us into a particular world, merging landscapes and figures, sometimes imaginary, sometimes abstract. Stimulating our imagination, Queuroz invites the spectator into an extraordinary dream. He is represented in France by gallery Nathalie Obadia, in London by Thomas Dane and in Porto by gallery Quadrado Azul.

Born in Vina del Mare in Chille 1967, Sandra Vasquez de la Horra lives and works in Düsseldorf. In her drawing she expresses melancholy dreams, phantoms, reminiscences of her life at the time of Pinochet. She draws on small pieces of paper covered in wax which she cooks, as if to render them indestructible at the same time as they are fragile. She is represented by the German galleries Kewenig (Cologne) and Rupert Pfab (Düsseldorf) and by David Nolan Gallery (New York).

The portfolios of these three artists will be reviewed by a jury of eight private collectors who will choose the laureate of the Prize for Contemporary Drawing of the Daniel and Florence Guerlian Foundation.

The prize will be awarded on the 18th of March, 2009, at twelve o’clock noon, within the framework of artparis who thus offers a display window for the three artists above.

With the kind support of: Cercle des Amis, Neuflize OBC-ABNAMRO, Artcurial, Ensba-Paris, Champagne Henriot.