My Highlights from CHART Art Fair 2014
My selection mirrors the overall impression of the fair—an obvious focus on Scandinavian artists with many great examples hereof, that also show the variety of the scene. At the same time, they introduce a significant number of international artists, mainly European and North American, to the Danish audience. I have made a broad selection of artists that I like.
My Selection:
Olafur Eliasson, Square sphere, 2007, at i8 Gallery
Generally known for his large scale installations and interventions with architecture and cityscapes that act to sharpen our perception and experience of the world that surrounds us, Eliasson has also made a number of smaller works that, in a convincing manner, convey his thoughts in a more intimate manner.
Klara Kristalova, Killens träd / The Boy’s tree, 2013, at Galleri Magnus Karlsson
Klara Kristalova is an ambitious storyteller working mainly with clay sculpture. The figurative and the narrative are common features in her art, where the narrative seems to evolve dynamically from the tactile medium of the clay. The boy with the tree growing from his eyes and mouth is like many other figures by Kristalova; both innocent and disturbing at the same time.
Alexander Tovborg, Bocca Baciata LXI, 2014, at Galleri Nicolai Wallner
This is a recent painting by Alexander Tovborg. Painting is his preferred medium and Bocca Baciata LXI continues his interests into the myths that shape our past and present. Bocca Baciata LXI has the dinosaur as its subject matter presented in a colourful, decorative, and abstracting manner.
Stanley Whitney, New York Sound, 2013, at Galerie Nordenhake
It is all about the fundamentals of painting in Stanley Whitney’s art. His investigations of colour in a continuous manner transform the colour to structure while at the same time, emphasizing the very haptic quality of each colour. Whitney has worked for more than five decades evoking what colour is about; the individuality, the expression, and the manner always presented in a repetitive architecture of squares.
Ebbe Stub Wittrup,Devil’s Bridge #3, 2010, at Martin Absæk Gallery
Photography is core to Wittrup’s art. This example is part of a series of the so called “Devil’s bridges” that Ebbe Stub Wittrup has photographed in the southern part of Europe. The bridges are medieval and the term characterizes a number of constructions that bridge gaps that seem impossible to gap. It is a series of great clarity and at the same time, exemplary of the artist’s investigations of the borderline area where reason and superstition meets.
Anna Bjerger, Flight, 2014, at David Risley Gallery
Swedish artist Anna Bjerger is an interesting figure in contemporary painting. Narrative in their outset, her paintings seem both familiar and strange and at the same time, retrieve the motives from found photographs. The anonymity of the photos is given a significantly personal and lasting quality through the painterly translation and interpretation, prevailing a feeling of nostalgia and romanticism which is both odd and intriguing.
Elizabeth Peyton, Elias, 2014, at Edition Copenhagen
The picture depicts the lead singer of the Danish punk band Iceage with the characteristics of Peyton’s portraits: A great involvement and engagement in the people she portrays. The portrait also reveals Peyton’s more recent focus on the painterly qualities with an emphasis on the individual brushstrokes and clear definition of the motive. Peyton is a profound interpreter of her surroundings and the people around her combining a deeply personal outlook with a common perspective.
