Marthe Vandal

Marthe Vandal (b. 1981, Brussels) makes very large drawings in charcoal, graphite and compressed charcoal, working at life-size or above on raw and toned paper. Her subject is the single figure, often seen from behind or at its edge: a turned back, a bowed head, a pair of clasped hands, a body passing half out of the frame. The surfaces are built and unbuilt in the same motion — laid down, rubbed back, lifted with the eraser until the white of the paper carries the light. Black and grey are the only registers she allows herself. Vandal treats drawing as a finished discipline rather than as preparation, and the scale of the sheets gives the medium the address of painting while keeping its directness and its capacity for doubt. Trained in Brussels and Antwerp, she has shown in museum group exhibitions and project spaces across Belgium and abroad, and has worked with Brunner & Sand since the early 2010s. Her drawings have entered several public and private collections in Europe. She lives and works in Brussels, where the studio practice remains slow, sober and largely solitary.

I draw one figure at a time, usually turned away, and I keep working the sheet until the paper itself becomes the light. The eraser does as much as the charcoal; what I take away is part of the image. I want the figure to feel close and withheld at once.