Paperballad is a tune, a composition of lines and colors, of traces left on paper by four different hands that together create a perfect harmony sometimes, though some others nothing but dissonance. Abstract and figurative; a product of memory or imagination, all the drawings are tied together by the subtle thread that the pencil leaves on the paper. They might sing about a feeling, a memory, a secret wish… They are a ballad, a paperballad that means something only to whoever looks at them: a revelation of the brightest side, or the darkest corner. 

Paperballad is an exhibition inspired by Björk’s Hyper-ballad (1996), a song that she explains as being about the moment when we fall in love and, afraid of losing this perfect feeling, we hide to get rid of the energy coming from our dark side, so that we can show only the bright and sweet side of ourselves to our loved one. Hyper-ballad represents this split of character, is Hyper and Ballad: the verse is the dark side and the chorus is the bright side.

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Gathering 34 drawings by artists Juna Skenderi (AL/US), Laura Ramírez Palacio (COL), María García Ibáñez (ES) and Derzu Campos (MX), Paperballad is an invitation to dance with oneself and to listen to the tune of our own light and darkness. In a time when we have become the masters of hiding from ourselves, we might find that bottles and cutlery make a nice sound when hitting the ground.