For studerende og alumner fra Institut for Kunst- og Kulturvidenskab, Københavns Universitet (Litteraturvidenskab, Kunsthistorie, Teatervidenskab, Dansevidenskab, Visuel Kultur, Musikvidenskab og Moderne Kultur og Kulturformidling)
Multifaceted Morning, 2021, Mixed media on venetian linen , 160 x 180 cm.
Galleri Christoffer Egelund is proud to present NEW MYTHOLOGIES which is the second solo exhibition of the Danish visual artist Jonas Pihl. Known for his imaginative paintings he turns the gallery into a portal to another universe and its worlds.
The works of Jonas Pihl contain the elements of abstraction and randomness together with precise perspective shifts. On top of those, each painting is filled with adventurous components and symbols that bridge the familiar with the unknown, the random and the controlled or in larger terms – the Chaos and the Cosmos. These dualisms are always present in Pihl’s oeuvre. With the thought of the viewer they merge and form a new approach, attitude or mythology. Jonas Pihl believes we are in a need of those and through his works enables us to take on the experience.
The use of Venetian linen in all the new paintings creates a subtle background for everything that is going on in each painting. The dripping acrylic allows space for randomness when it is the gravity that decides the destination of the drop. The repetition of that action creates a pattern that becomes a decorative element of the painting and that is only the beginning. They are met by geometrical shapes of circles, triangles and squares which give a sense of something tangible by the mind, something we know, something we can hold onto. Then the colour palette adds the wildness portion – in Pihl’s universe all the hues can exist together and form exciting compositions.
Our world is built from various elements that bind everything together. The fractal systems, Fibonacci sequence or the circle are just some examples of structures that are foundational to the existence. The small connects to the large, the micro cosmos becomes the macro cosmos. There is an order that initiates the beginning and end of each particle. The mind can only comprehend so much, but the ethereal is in symbiosis with the material. The paintings of Jonas Pihl form compositions that allow for their content to elevate to a higher effect.
Jonas Pihl considers himself a spectator of the present, having in mind that it is like a curtain that offers many layers of experience, depending on any individual. This approach has paradoxically made him present – and not distanced – to the here and now, perhaps because he is not engrossed in it.
The works shown as part of the exhibition point to sci-fi-like figurations and virtual spaces that create the titled NEW MYTHOLOGIES that the viewer can step into. It is a getaway from the constantly changing contemporary world. The concentration of the works with their dualisms stems from an ideology that two seemingly contradictory poles might merge in a dialogue about something higher, rather that causing a dispute.
Jonas Pihl was born in 1978. He lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has received BFA and MFA from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art under Professor Jesper Christiansen. Together with his MFA Pihl also has a Diploma from Sisifos Centre for Psychotherapy. The artist has exhibited widely in Denmark, Europe and USA. His works are represented in private and public collections such as: Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, Københavns Kommunes Kulturudvalg and Copenhagen Airport.
Galleri Christoffer Egelund invites you to the opening of the exhibition NEW MYTHOLOGIES by Jonas Pihl Friday, September 24th from 15.00 to 19.00. The artist will be present during the opening reception and we will serve cool drinks and snacks. The show will run until October 22nd. Facemasks are no longer required, but we kindly remind you to keep a safe distance to other visitors.
Opening hours: Wednesday-Friday 15-18, Saturday 12-16. For further information and sales request, please contact the gallery at: hello@nullchristofferegelund.dk or at +45 33 93 92 00. Bredgade 75, DK-1260 Copenhagen K, Denmark. For more info visit www.christofferegelund.dk
Galleri Christoffer Egelund er stolt af at kunne præsentere udstillingen The Riddle af den talentfulde, danske kunstner Maria Torp. The Riddle er hendes tredje soloudstilling i galleriet.
Gådefulde blikke og fortællende ansigter rækker ud mod bekueren fra Maria Torp udtryksfulde skildringer af liv in medias res. Hun skaber betagende, minutiøse portrætbilleder af mere eller mindre fiktive karakterer, hvor hvert et hårstrå, hver en blodsprængning, er omhyggeligt beskrevet med penslen.
Maria Torp arbejder ud fra den kunstneriske stilart fotorealisme, der vandt frem i 1960’ernes og 70’ernes USA som en udstikker af Pop Art. Men hendes arbejdsmetode bringer genren ad nye veje. Maleriernes fotografiske forlæg iscenesættes ud fra løsslupne, idégenererende tegninger, der er første trin i Torps arbejdsproces, hvorved hun indlægger et fabulerende element i fotografiets (formodede) nøgterne virkelighedsgengivelse. Torps tegninger er kendetegnede ved en langt større grad af abstrakion: ideerne tager forsigtigt form i det sorte blæk.
I værket The Verge ser vi en kvindes ansigt i profil, der konfronterer beskueren med et hårdt, penetrerende blik. Farverne i baggrunden virker formildende på hendes ellers hårde fremtoning, og foreslår en mere nuanceret læsning af den portrætterede Værket Restless skildrer en rygvendt kvinde, et velkendt motiv i kunsthistorien særligt kendt fra den tyske romantiske maler Caspar David Friedrich. Hovedpersonen i Torps maleri mimer Friedrichs Frau am Fenster (1822), når hun læner sig frem mod det oplyste vindue. Hvad hun ser derude ligger hen i det uvisse – måske en anden tilværelse eller en håbefuld fremtid? Værket fremviser en udlængsel fra en lejlighed, der er beskidt, vandskadet og kold. Værkets umiddelbare ro skjuler over et uroligt indre.
Maria Torp holder sig ikke slavisk til fotorealismens begrænsninger som virkelighedsskildrende genre. I en serie værker danner aflagte stykker pap fra gamle papkasser lærred for de fotorealistiske portrætter. I et af papværkerne synes en forhutlet, slidt kvinde at føje sig perfekt ind i pappets rå fremtoning. Her og der ser man et håndtag, og kunstnerens udskæringer i pappet bliver en del af det malede billede, når fx det øverste lag er skrællet af pappet for at danne striber i en bluse, eller når bølgepappet står frem som en del af ansigtet. Således fremviser malerierne deres konstruktion og bryder med den illusionisme og strenge finish, der ellers er kendetegnende for fotorealismen.
Farvebrugen er tiltider rå og overbevisende virkelighedsnær og i andre værker holdt i næsten overvirkeligt glossede pasteltoner. Torps fotorealistiske malerier lægger op til nysgerrig søgen efter et menneskets identitet ud fra den fysiske fremtoning, ikke mindst ansigtets. Torp inviterer os til at forsøge at løse gåden: hvem er dette menneske foran mig?
Maria Torp (f. 1975) bor og arbejder i København. Hun tog afgang fra det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi i 2007 og har tidligere studeret ved London College of Printing. Hun har deltaget i flere gruppeudstillinger på gallerier, museer, kunsthaller, kunstmesser national og international og er netop udstillingsaktuelt på gruppeudstillingen “10.000 timer – hvad er talent ?” på Trapholt. Derudover har hun lavet udsmykningsopgaver til bl.a. FTF, Ferring, Velux Fonden og TrygVesta og udgør ligeledes en tredjedel af kunstnertrioen MAM sammen med kunstnerne Anika Lori og Mette Geisler.
Galleri Christoffer Egelund inviterer dig til fernisering på Maria Torp: The Riddle fredag den 3. oktober kl. 17-20. Kunstneren vil være til stede ved åbningen. Udstillingen vises frem til den 1. november 2014. Åbningstider: mandag-fredag kl. 11-18, lørdag kl. 12-16. For yderligere informationer om udstillingen samt pressefotos, kontakt venligst galleriet på: info@nullegelund.dk eller på +45 33 93 92 00.
[UK]
MARIA TORP: THE RIDDLE / 03.10 – 01.11 2014
Galleri Christoffer Egelund proudly presents the third solo exhibition with the talented Danish artist Maria Torp: The Riddle.
Mysterious stares and tell-tale faces confronts the viewer of Maria Torps photorealistic portrayals of lives in medias res. She creates fascinating, minute portraits of more og less fictive characters, with every strand of hair, every imperfection meticulously accentuated.
Maria Torp works in the tradition of the art form photorealism that gained ground in the USA of the 1960s and 70s as an offshot of Pop Art. But her working method takes the art form in new directions. The photographs, from which the pieces are painted, are staged on the basis of unrestained, idea generating drawings which forms the first step of the artist’s triadic working proces. This proces ensures the paintings a dreamlike element unfamiliar to the photograph’s (assumed) objective description of reality. Torp’s drawings are characterised by greater abstraction: the artistic ideas are formed in the black ink.
In the piece The Verge a woman’s face is seen in profile, confronting the viewer with a firm, penetrating gaze. The colours of the background seems to appease her tough appearance and suggest the possibility of a softer side to the woman portrayed. The artwork Restless depicts a woman with her back to the viewer, a motif not unfamiliar to the history of art, especially associated with the German romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich. The protagonist of Torp’s painting mimics Friedrich’s Frau am Fenster (1822) when she leans towards the illuminated window. What she sees out there remains uncertain – perhaps a different way of life or a dream of a hopeful future? The piece presents a longing to go abroad and away from an appartment that seems dirty, water damaged and cold. The tranquility of the scene conceals an inner restlessness.
Maria Torp does not slavishly follow the limits of photorealism as a reality depicting genre. In a series of artworks she uses cast-off pieces of cardboard boxes as canvases for her photorealistic portraits. One of the pieces shows a ragged woman who seems to fit in perfectly with the raw look of the cardboard. Here and there handles show in the cardboard canvases, and the artist’s carvings in the cardboard becomes part of the motifs as patterns of a shirt or as part of a face. In this way the paintings demonstrates their construction and breaks the illusionism and strict finish normally associated with photorealism.
The colours in the art of Maria Torp are some times rough and convincingly realistic and at other times almost more real than reality with their glossy notes of pastel. They are appeasing to the eye. But the artworks of Torp are so much more than that. The pieces prepare the ground for inquisitive search for a person’s identity or story in the physical appearance, especially that of the face. Torp invites us to try and solve the riddle: who is this person in front of me?
Maria Torp (1975) lives and works in Copenhagen, Danmark. She graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2007 and has previously studied at the London College of Printing. Torp has exhibited her works in several galleries, museums, art institutions, art fairs national and internationel and are currently a part of the group exhibition “10.000 Hours – What is Talent?” at Tropholt Modern Museum of Art. Furthermore she has made commissioned work for corporations such as FTF, Tryg, Ferring and at the Velux Foundation and is co-founder of the artist trio MAM, with the artists Anika Lori and Mette Geisler.
Galleri Christoffer Egelund cordially invites you to the opening of Maria Torp: The Riddle on Friday the 3rd of October from 17-20. The exhibition will run until November the 1st, 2014. Opening hours: Monday – Friday from 11-18, Saturdays from 12-16. For further information and press photographs, please contact the gallery at: info@nullchristofferegelund.dk or at +45 33 93 92 00.
