V1 Gallery proudly presents the two exhibitions
DARK WHITE by Sara-Vide Ericson and GARGOYLE ROOM by Katja Bjørn.
OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY OCTOBER 28. 2016. TIME: 17.00 – 22.00.
EXHIBITION PERIOD: OCTOBER 29. – NOVEMBER 19. 2016.
ABOUT DARK WHITE – BY SARA-VIDE ERICSON:
The new body of work from Swedish painter Sara-Vide Ericson is visually arresting. 18 paintings and one drawing. In Ericson’s paintings nature is a place where you get hurt if you are not careful. The vast Swedish woods will swallow you and wolves, bears and worms will disperse of your remains. The humans in the works and woods are engaged in seemingly ritualistic behavior, a physical form of psychotherapy, where feelings, dreams, moments are enacted and reenacted. The white light is a recurring theme in every work – it takes on many meanings and positions. It illuminates, radiates, provides, it gives and takes power, it burns, it is harsh and even violent, it is life and death. The tableau in the work The Dark White Redemption, is a starling painting. What is the woman doing in the river? This is clearly not a regular way to clean clothes. Is it some kind of ritual? A strange pagan Baptism? A punishment? A peace offering? Her posture is strong. She is in control. Where Ericson earlier dreamed or imagined scenarios and would revisit them to photograph them with a model before translating them into oil paintings – she is now performing her paintings. She is that woman in the river with strong shivering arms raised above her head, cold, tired and victorious. She can taste the iron water in the red river and you can feel that in her new work.
ABOUT GARGOYLE ROOM – BY KATJA BJØRN:
V1 Gallery is pleased to present our first exhibition by Danish video artist Katja Bjørn. Gargoyle Room is a video projected on two walls combined with a strong auditory side making it a sensual total installation depicting the nature and condition of lust. Most of Katja Bjørn’s work plays on a dichotomy between awakening the voyeur within causing us to stare intensively and an intimidation that leads to embarrassment or disgust so one must look away. Gargoyle Room is no exception. It is a visually striking and claustrophobic confrontation, an entrance into the subconscious of pure instinct and lust without interruption from self-censorship, guilt and shame. A conflict between pleasure and pain, beauty and disgust. In the dark scenery of the video masked characters in underwear explore each other curiously bringing it all down to the bodily experience of touching, fumbling, breathing, enjoying, and playing. Sculptural formations of bodies form patterns in the dark. Vague hints. Glimpses of intimate situations. Blurry close-ups that trigger our own fantasies and imagination. The scene is staged by the artist, but the characters in the video are played by actual swingers performing the sexual act instinctively as the camera runs, while dismantling cultural borders of everyday life such as social rank, life situation and age. The viewer becomes the intrusive voyeur to a mysterious and ritualistic game that is also a story of longing as a human condition.
Everyone is welcome. We hope to see you.
V1 Gallery