EXPO: GALLERI RAMFJORD, OSLO. NORWAY.
The group exhibition ‘Jubileumsutstilling’ takes place in Galleri Ramfjord (gallery space lll), Schwensensgate 1, St. Hanshaugen, Oslo, on the 16th of August, 2014. In this expo I am participating with the painting ‘Tante EU møder Skrik’ (‘Auntie EU meets The Scream’). For further information on Galleri Ramfjord and the exhibition Jubileumsudstillingen http://www.galleriramfjord.net/
FACTS
ABOUT THE PAINTING
Title: ‘Tante EU møder Skrik’. (‘Auntie
EU meets The Scream’)
A storm is brewing. On the windswept bridge, Auntie EU bumps into The
Scream and shouts: “It’s my right to be a stranger”. And soon after History
flies onwards, probably with its back to the future, so there is certainly a high risk of collision. Acrylic on canvas, 115.7 cm x 177 cm. 27/03/2014.
SHORT
INTRO
In the periodical ’UdTryk’ Lise Jeppesen, the
curator and chief executive at Randers Kunstmuseum, writes
an interesting article on my solo exhibition ‘Navnet og dets Plads’ (‘The Name
and Its Place’), which I exhibited in Randers Kunstmuseum. The article gives an
insight into my work with images, even though in my present painting, ‘Tante EU
møder Skrik’ (2014), which I am pleased to be able to exhibit in Galleri
Ramfjord, I focus on a different signifier (a different meaning) and aspect,
than Lise Jeppesen.
’UdTryk’ (http://www.randerskunstmuseum.dk/FrontEnd.aspx?id=22234) pages 5–11
’UdTryk’ (http://www.randerskunstmuseum.dk/FrontEnd.aspx?id=22234) pages 5–11
In my work, I generally build on my
experiences as well as my research and working production, which herein
includes my education at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen,
and the EHESS university in Paris. I build on my experiences from exhibitions I
have participated in, amongst others ‘Schlager-Projektet’ shown in the European
Parliament in Brussels (2012), as well as the exhibition ‘De Vilde’ in Arken
Museum for Moderne Kunst (2010-2011), and the solo exhibition ‘Navnet og dets
Plads’, Randers Kunstmuseum (2009). See my CV for further information.
It is interesting to meet people in
connection with exhibitions and listen when they speak directly about my work,
with a starting point in their unique and social experiences, and formulate new
images in their own varied ways.
Empirically, and to certain extent
conceptually, I explore the subject’s utterance and its place in that we call
democracy; in historical, etymological, and social terms, as well as culturally
and politically. I inscribe my investigations in colours and materials which
then become paintings – a bio-geo topic. The subject, which I focus on and
study in order to better understand it, refers to the unconscious. The
unconscious is an inner utterance, which is structured like a kind of alphabet.
I point out that the image is not silent material but that it refers to speech,
as I have inscribed the subject’s discourse in the work via the materials. And
because I believe that this discourse (the subject’s utterance) is what we
hear, and what we speak about when we see the image. Furthermore, I question
whether there is place for it (subject) in social, cultural and political
society, and what do we do with it? But who is the subject? Why be interested
in its utterance? Or, put another way: why be interested in mankind’s comings
and goings? One of the answers could be, to gain more knowledge. Because I take
responsibility for it, in order to give it a place to be and a place from which
to speak. Here a point, or selection, could be that the unconscious controls
the conscious ‘I’, but without one being aware of it – as I understand it. We
know much of the conscious and less of the other. We always say ‘I’, while the
subject (which refers to the unconscious) is mostly perceived as ‘a stranger’,
or ‘something strange’, which we often neglect. Or it is kept out – or in. And
it is actually notable, and a little paradoxical, as long as the unconscious
controls the ‘I’ and its choices.
BOOK
BOOK
My book, ’Name and its Place’ (2012),
ISBN 978-87-995334-0-4, is partly sponsored by Kulturstyrelsen – the Danish
Agency for Culture. It can be purchased in the Louisiana shop in Humlebæk; in
Boghandlen in Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen; or in Nasjonalgalleriet’s
bokhandel Tanum Karl Johan, Oslo www.tanumbokhandel.no
NEWS
The New Carlsberg Foundation and the Kirsten & Palle Dige Foundation are to donate one of my upcoming artworks to ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum in Danmark.
The New Carlsberg Foundation and the Kirsten & Palle Dige Foundation are to donate one of my upcoming artworks to ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum in Danmark.
Berit Heggenhougen-Jensen,
11/08/2014.