ARTBLOG

The end of artblog in English

2010-06-22T08:25:00.000+02:00

A mix of this blogs very few readers and my busy life is causing me to stop translating artblog in to English. It was fun but also timeconsuming. You can always use Google Translate even though it sometimes translate the text in to some gobbledygook you might be able to make some sense out of it.

Jen Stark

2010-06-16T23:03:00.000+02:00

I might be a bit focused on paper at the moment, but look at this video and see what Jen Stark is able to do with a bunch of paper.

Sigmar Polke has passed away

2010-06-14T20:50:00.000+02:00

DANSK

The night between Friday and Saturday Sigmar Polke passed away 69 years old. The first time I saw his work is many, many years ago. I was young and on an Interrail tour through Germany and Schwitzerland. He made a great impression on me.

Laboratorium at Brænderigården in Viborg

2010-06-09T19:52:00.001+02:00

DANSK

Four older artists represent the three themes of the exhibition Laboratorium. Franciska Clausen represents The Form. J.F. Willumsen The Fragment and Albert Mertz and Arthur Köpcke stands for The Sign. The invited contemporary artists has been merged with the older artists, we found they shared a community with and in most cases we have been right. Many of the artists have been really happy to be grouped with the specific older artist.

The Form

Franciska Clausen, Pernelle Maegaard, Milena Bonifiacini, Ferdinand Ahm Krag

The Fragment

J.F.Willumsen, Cai Ulrich von Platen, Nina Kleivan, Malene Hartmann, Mikael Thejll.

The Sign

Albert Mertz, Arthur Köpcke, Mikkel Larris, Camilla Gaugler, Andreas Schulenburg

The themes works as a red thread through the exhibition, but the artists are not necessarily in the same room as those they share theme with. The red line you may, if you watch the show, create on your own.

You can see behind the scene photos from the exhibition by clicking this link. We upload new photos every dag this week.

Laboratorium at Brænderigården in Viborg

2010-06-08T21:39:00.000+02:00

More than two years ago, Nina Kleivan and Pernelle Maegaard got an idea for an exhibition. They lacked only the one who could write the description of the project. The one was me. Originally I just had to do that and then Pernelle and Nina would continue from there, but I thought the idea was so good that I became more and more engaged. Now we are in Viborg setting up the exhibition.

Nina and Pernelle looking through the work of Albert Mertz

What I liked so well were the three pillars of the exhibition:

It would be exclusively with works by / on paper
At the exhibiton both contemporary artists and older artists should be on show.
The title Laboratory would also be a working title of the artists. An illustration of the experiment, that the paper so greatly permits because it is so accessible and cheap.

When I saw the artists Pernelle and Nina as a starting point had chosen three themes began to emerge: the form, the fragment and the sign.

The form:
The form creates order out of chaos. It creates systems, structures and roads. Forms can emerge in to building structures and landscapes, but can also serve as ornaments and manipulate geometric shapes. Viewer's eye follows the line and feel peace.

The fragment The fragment is detached. There is no complete story, just a fragment. The story may be absurd, melancholic, mysterious, or humorous. It is up to the viewer to be inspired by the fragment and tell a story herself.
The signThe sign unites form and fragment. The dash lines and arcs form the words which the viewer transforms and create meaning through. In interaction with forms and shapes the artist plays with words and helps the viewer to create new images and meaning. It can be detached words and it may be more or less absurd forms of comics.

Building up the exhibiton

Then we continued working on the form and finally the artsist were selected and the project description written. Time to send out applications. We sent out a good portion, received many kind and friendly denials and then in the middle of summer 2008 there was an email sent by Karen Lintrup from Kunsthal Brænderigården in Viborg. She was very interested.

Unwrapping Arthur Köpcke

The rest is history, and yet not. In the meantime, Pernelle and Nina worked hard to make contact with the places we wanted to borrow works from (by Arthur Köpcke Albert Mertz, Franciska Clausen and JF Willumsen). They kept the contact with the contemporary artists who are in the exhibition and has largely been the link between Brænderigården and us. Meanwhile, I have worked behind the scenes to do video interviews with the artists for our YouTube channel and has drawn up a plan for the exhibition's Facebook page.

Now there are less than three days untill the exhibition opens with a private viewing on Friday 16.00 and the idea that was born more than two years ago has become reality.

If you want to follow the exhibition building, click on this link every day this week.

The heat in Jutland and Vermehren

2010-06-07T21:42:00.001+02:00

Today I´m in Viborg. Known for being situated close to the heat. It has something to do with an exhibition......

Frederik Vermehren
Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

Garden and art

2010-06-06T20:21:00.001+02:00

DANSK

Today I´ve been working in the garden but that doesn´t exclude the art. Except for creating rooms which has a lot to do with architecture developing a garden design is also to play with colours.

One of the artists I´m inspired by is Pernelle Maegaard. She works with colours in a way that I find quiet fantastic.

Maybe I should ad some lightblue to the flowerbed I was working with today.....

Flowers

2010-06-05T10:45:00.001+02:00

DANISH

Yeasterday I went out photographing flowers and felt very inspired by these two women.

Georgia O´Keefe (1887-1986)

Tina Modotti (1896-1942)

Laboratorium at Brænderigården, Viborg

2010-06-04T13:18:00.001+02:00

The last couple of weeks I´ve been working hard on some videos for the exhibition Laboratorium (Brænderigården, Viborg). Unfortunately it doesn´t make much sense to show them to you. They are entirely in Danish.

I´m curating the exhibition together with to of the participating artists - Pernelle Maegaard and Nina Kleivan. Here is some of the work they are showing.

Nina Kleivan

Pernelle Maegaard

Apart from those two the following artists are on show: Franciska Clausen, Milena Bonifaicini, Ferdinand Ahm Krag, J.F.Willumsen, Cai-Ulrich von Platen, Mikael Thejll, Malene Hartmann, Alberts Mertz, Arthur Köpcke, Mikkel Larris, Camilla Gaugler and Andreas Schulenburg.

I´ll tell more about the exhibition some other day.

Andreas Schulenburg

2010-06-03T15:22:00.000+02:00

DANSK

Andreas Schulenburg is right now on show at the exhibition Ø-skaber/I-lands (Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, Denmark) and from 12.6 - 15.8 at the exhibition Laboratorium (Brænderigården Viborg, Denmark).

Helen Denerley

2010-06-02T23:16:00.001+02:00

DANSK

Wolves
Photo: Helen Denerley

Actually I would have shown you Helen Denerleys interpretation of the roaring red deer but to see that you´ll have to find a copy of Country Living Magazine and take a peek at page 80. These wolves though gives a quiet good expression of an artist who has devoted her life to make animal sculptures of scrap. It somehow takes the material to quiet another level!

A year with Pipilotti Rist

2010-06-01T10:02:00.002+02:00

Tonight I´m staying up late because I both Friday and Sunday missed the program A year with Pipilotti Rist at SVT2. Today is the last chance.

I´ll set the alarmclock to ring at 23.15.

Happy

2010-05-31T21:44:00.001+02:00

This is how they do the lighting at MoMa every day!

From the project 30 seconds by the artist and independent film maker Thilo Hoffmann

Watch more videos at MoMas homepage

Web Gallery of Art

2010-05-24T22:31:00.001+02:00

DANSK

Prayerbook of Maria of Gueldern - before 1415

Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

Web Gallery of Art is a treasure trove of knowledge and images of European art from year 1000-1850. The site includes 24.000 reproductions of important art works within the period with comprehensive descriptions and background writing. Every reproduction can be send as postcard. So far I have only scratched the surface but I will definitely return again and again.

Katharina Grosse at Arken

2010-05-21T08:48:00.001+02:00

Last Wednesday I took a walk in a painting. A fascinating experience to be recommended.

Read about Katharina Grosses installation on Arkens homepage.
Watch the video from Arkens YouTube channel below and learn more from the horse´s mouth.

George Goodwin Kilburn and William Henry Margetson

2010-05-13T12:13:00.001+02:00

DANISH

There are so many possibilities of what to do on a day like this when the weather is grey and the temperature is low.

To visit a museum is one.

George Goodwin Kilburne (1839-1924) At the British Museum

Photo from Wikigallery.org

But maybe the couch and a good book is more attractive.

George Goodwin Kilburne (1839-1924)A young lady reading in an interior

Photo found on the blog Victorian/Edwardian Paintings

Do something about the interior perhaps.

William Henry Margetson (1861-1940) A new day

Photo from Classic Art Paintings

Well, I think I´ll try the garden anyway and hope for a bit of sunshine later.

William Henry Margetson (1861-1940) At the cottage door

Photo from Classic Art Paintings

P.C. Skovgaards beech wood

2010-05-11T21:06:00.001+02:00

DANISH

This weekend I past through what I think must be Sydsjællands most beautiful beech wood. Along small, winding and rather hilly roads we went from Skallerup to Ugledige surrounded by newly sprouted beech trees. And our spirits rose for each tree.

P.C. Skovgaard Islinge wood, 1861

Fuglsang Kunstmuseum

Not far away P.C. Skovgaard made studies in Isling Wood around 1860. One of the works is called Beech wood in May and is owned by The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

It was Skovgaard, who once convinced me that the Danish Golden Age perhaps not were such dull a period of Danish art, as I had first assumed. His ability to paint the light and the little details more or less took my breath away when I first had a proper look. I am looking forward to September when Fuglsang Art Museum opens the exhibition, PC Skovgaard. Danish Golden Age reconsidered. I´ll be there!

Johan Rohde

2010-05-07T16:48:00.002+02:00

DANSK

The calendar says it´s spring but the weather doesn´t agree. It´s raining and only five degrees (celsius). Instead of doing the garden I lit up the stove and uploaded some photos on Flickr from an exhibition on the Danish painter and designer Johan Rohde (1856-1935) back in 2006! Time flies I have to admit.

Saucepan (dess. nr.321)

1919

Kunstindustrimuseet

Skønvirke - Danish jugend style

2010-05-06T21:07:00.000+02:00

Skønvirke is the Danish version of jugend style and arts and craft. A beautiful bikeride today which led me down an avenue of hawthorn made me think of this period. I would not mind owing this brooch.

Brooch (1910-19)

Design: Mogens Ballin

The Museum at Koldinghus

Ok Go - Rube Goldberg

2010-05-04T19:26:00.002+02:00

Trine Søndergaard and Astrid Kruse Jensen

2010-04-26T21:46:00.002+02:00

DANSK

Two photo exhibitions - two artists writing about their art

Astrid Kruse Jensen "The Construction of Memory"
Galleri Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen until 22. May
Astrid Kruse Jensen on Birgitte Riis´ blog

Trine Søndergaard "Strude" - Glyptoteket, Copenhagen until 16. May
Trine Søndergaard on Glyptoteket blog

Spring!

2010-04-23T23:11:00.000+02:00

Anna Syberg (1870-1914)

Pipilotti Rist

2010-04-22T09:57:00.001+02:00

DANSK

Pipilotti Rist has almost become a kind of artist in residence on the blog and now I write about her again. A few days ago, I went to Louisiana Museum of Modern Art again to see her work Homo sapiens sapiens.

One of the things that concerns me much at the moment is the difficulty in describing an art experience. How do I explain the impression that the work did on me? The uniqueness of art is that it belongs to a completely different language. It gives us a space and opportunity to experience other aspects of life than the immediately close textual reality. Therefore, we usually resort to the more factual stuff when we describe a work of art. I also do so here, but the work is so much more than that.

Unlike last time I had more time at this occasion and so I saw the video three times. It paid off. Firstly, I reached the near-meditative state, which the art work appeals to. Secondly, I saw for each viewing new details.

The dominating expression I was left with was that I had gotten a glimpse of paradise before the Fall. Eve is carefree. She knows nothing of the sinful body and she has no clue about the hard work that humanity is to be doomed to when she much later eats the apple.

Besides the work's obvious reference to the Baroque I also noticed another. The reference to Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns and Morricone's music for the same. Try to listen to the music and take a look on the still photo above , which might also lead someones thoughts to Dreyer's Jeanne D'Arc.

The rest of the experience is situated in my body and has no connection with the language center in the brain.

If you happen to be in Copenhagen this week sunday is the last chance to see Homo sapiens sapiens.

John Constable

2010-04-19T16:59:00.002+02:00

DANSK

Like so many other garden people , I am especially at this time of year obsessed by the garden. First of all, I happily work in our own garden at every given opportunity , second I seek out every green spot where ever I am and third I seek out every corner of the Internet for inspiration. And what has it to do with art you might ask? Well, today I took a trip to Cornwall inspired by a blog post on the Danish garden writer Claus Dalby´s blog about The Lost Gardens of Heligan and after a few clicks I found myself on a site from Tate dealing with Constable's landscape paintings.

John Constable Stratford Mill 1819-20

The National Gallery

On the site Works in focus it´s possible to go into details of three paintings. Hence the four highlighted spots in the image. I can only recommend you to do so.

E-postcards from art museums

2010-04-16T10:35:00.002+02:00

DANSK

Not always in good time for sending a birthday greeting? Here is a list of e-postcards from art museums.

Den Hirschsprungske Samling

E-postcards

Juan Gris Breakfast 1914

MoMA e-postcards

Paul Klee Der Bayrische Don Giovanni 1919

Guggenheim e-postcards

Museum of Fine Arts Boston e-postcards

The artist Ruben Toledo working

Victoria and Albert Museum e-postcards

Milena Bonifacini

2010-04-15T17:57:00.005+02:00

Milena Bonifacini "Tower" 2009

Carnegie Art Award YouTube

The Johannes Larsen Museum, Kerteminde, Funen

2010-04-09T21:49:00.002+02:00

DANSK

Vibe Bredahl Bird of Passage 2009

(Photo: Anders Sune Berg)

There are lots of reasons to go to the island Funen this weekend but one of the most important is that it´s the last chance to see the exhibition Hunting - for something else at the Johannes Larsen Museum in Kerteminde. A very fine exhibition with works of Vibe Bredahl

Svend Allan Sørensen

Did you ever think that we could be so close like brothers? (2009)
(Photo: Jesper Olsen)

Lise Blomberg

Alle de bær hun kunne spise (2008)
(Photo: Monty Melbye)

Trine Søndergaard og Nicolai Howalt

Dying Birds (2006-09)

(Photo: The artist´)

and Peter Holst Henckel.

Flora Danica III, Tab 3 (2009)

(Photo: The artist)

The Johannes Larsen Museum is museum for the work and life of the Danish painter Johannes Larsen (1867-1961). It also holds a permanent collection with works of his contemporaries. Especially those connected to the Funish art colony. The museum is at any time worth a visit. If you can´t make it this weekend, then do it some other time during the summer when the garden is flowering.

Johannes Larsen Ducks

(Photo from Visit Funen, Kerteminde. One out of eight photos from the museum on the site)

Diego Velazquez The Crusification

2010-04-02T09:44:00.000+02:00

DANSK

Diego Velazquez The Crusification about 1632

(Photo: Museo del Prado at Wikimedia Commons)

Symbols in art

2010-04-01T10:07:00.000+02:00

DANSK

Juan Sánchez Cótan Quince, cabbage, melon and cucumber 1603

(Photo borrowed from Baroque in Hackney)

A fuzzy quince floating far from the edge. A crunchy cabbage still beyond the edge, but now closer. A cut ripe melon with one piece perilously near the edge. And finally, a wrinkled cucumber on the road beyond. The four ages of life: childhood, youth, adulthood and old age.

A baby dressed as dictator and canned shit

2010-04-01T09:37:00.001+02:00

DANSK

To understand art is often hard work, but you miss so many insights, if you just reject what you do not understand.
This is the essence of todays blogpost.

Pierre Manzoni Merde de Artiste 1961

(Photo borrowed from blogart21)

Whether it´s canned shit or a baby dressed as dictator focus on the idea and not only the media or the excact object.

Nina Kleivan Potency 2005

(Photo: Nina Kleivan)

Someone only see shit in a can. Others only see the artist´s baby dressed as Hitler. The problem is that they thus prevent themselves from seeing the idea behind the work. In Manzoni's work Merde de Artiste (1961) the personal is important. It is important that it is the artist's own shit sold at exorbitant prices. In this way Manzoni creates a platform for a discussion of the artist role. In Nina Kleivans work Potency (2005) the personal is not important. The important thing is that it is a baby. One of the most innocent creatures, we know. But Hitler, Mussolini and other dictators were all once innocent babies. That is where the focus should be. We will grow much wiser if we discuss what can transform an innocent baby into a dictator than whether it is legitimate for the artist to use her own baby as a model. For it is for me what the artist's baby is. A model. The baby as a concept and thus a catalyst for the idea behind the work and the discussion it raises

Knights in Aal kirke

2010-03-28T22:40:00.002+02:00

DANSK

Knights in Aal kirke (about 1200), Jutland, Denmark

(Photo: Sommer, Wikimedia Commons)

Also the Danes went on crusade. Even though the official interpretation of this fresco is related to the Bible.

Crossblogged on Kalkmaleri

Rosa Bonheur The Horse Fair

2010-03-25T10:25:00.000+01:00

DANSK

Featured Artwork of the Day from Metropolitan Museum of Art (Facebook) yesterday was Rosa Bonheurs The Horse Fair (1853-55). One of my absolute favourites.

There is so much momentum and movement in the painting! Since the sender was The Met, I was wondering why I was convinced that I had seen it in real life, since I have never been to the museum. Until a "fan" in the comment box pointed out that the National Gallery in London also has a version of the same motif. On the website you can read that this edition (1855) is a reduced version of the original at The Met. Moreover, the display at The National Gallery is a cooperation between Rosa Bonheur and her friend Nathalie Micas
On both The METS and The National Gallery's website, it is possible to zoom in on details and read more about the paintings.

J. Th. Lundbye Magic and Cavethoughts

2010-03-24T13:14:00.000+01:00

DANSK

Today I have enjoyed my coffeebreak so much more in the good company of the Danish Painter J.Th. Lundbyes (1818-1848) sketchbook Magic and Cavethoughts (Original: Trolddom og Huletanker).

J.Th.Lundbyes alterego the cavetroll Sindre

(Photo borrowed from Trollmoon)

3 x sculpture

2010-03-22T18:11:00.002+01:00

DANSK

Ultra Grøn "Bicycle"

Bredgade Kunsthandel, Copenhagen

(Photo: Ultra Grøn)

Stine Gro Petersen "Raft"

The Spring Exhibition Charlottenborg, Copenhagen

(Photo: The Spring Exhibition online catalogue)

Veo Friis Jespersen Unknown title

Skulpturi.dk, Copenhagen

(Photo: skulpturi.dk)

Ferdinand Hodler - The Day

2010-03-19T16:42:00.001+01:00

DANSK

Ferdinand Hodler The Day 1900

Kunstmuseum Bern

(Photo: The York Project)

The intersection of the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional

2010-03-18T18:07:00.001+01:00

DANSK

Sara Koppel Family (Photo from the artist´ blog)

Sometimes the painting crosses the sculptural. That´s how I felt today when I saw Sara Koppel's show at the Martin Asbæk Gallery in Copenhagen. The above photograph gives you a small taste of what Sara Koppel has done in her composition of the female bodies that fills her canvases in the gallery.

Christoffer Jørgensen The rest of the world

(Photo: The Spring Exhibition, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen)

Another two-dimensional work which fools you to believe that it is three-dimensional is Christoffer Jorgensen's The Rest of the World, which can be seen at the Spring Exhibition, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen.

Rasmus Høj Mygind & Emilie Bergrem Levels
Photo: The Spring Exhibiton, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen)

And finally the same place Rasmus Høj Mygind and Emilie Bergrem are mixing the two-dimensional with the three-dimensional in their work Levels.

Irish Teapot from Seattle Art Museum

2010-03-17T18:32:00.001+01:00

DANSK

After 2 weeks with a cold and 2½ days conference I´m about to be ready for blogging again. I start out with a Facebook update from Seattle Art Museum to show you one of the museums who have understood, that we rather want to know about their collection than their opening hours. Not because we don´t want to go to the museum but because we can get that kind of information on their webpage when we are ready to go.

"The earliest Irish silver teapots, made around 1700, were inspired by Chinese porcelain teapots. Stylistically, Irish silver followed the broad trends of English silver; the apple form of this Irish provincial teapot, as well as the straight spout, baluster finial, and double-scroll handle are inspirations from the earlier Queen Anne style. But the whimsically chased foliated scrolls and exotic bird and floral motifs proclaim the resourcefulness and great technical skill of the Irish silversmiths, as they developed a rococo decorative style quite distinct from that of their English counterparts.

“Teapot,” ca. 1740, made by George Hodder (Irish, first mentioned 1738; died 1771), in Cork, Ireland, sterling silver, 6 1/4 x 9 1/4 in., Gift of the Decorative Arts Council in honor of the museum's 50th year, 84.18. Not currently on view."

There is a lot more from the collection on their Facebook album

Jais Nielsens ceramics

2010-03-09T16:30:00.004+01:00

DANSK

In some mysterious way the interest for ceramics is growing. Maybe it´s something that comes with the age.......... Anyway, the fact is that I found Jais Nielsens ceramics far more exciting than his paintings when I last Sunday paid a visit to the exhibition at Fuglsang Kunstmuseum.

Photo: Jamer Antik

Astrid & Anne Marie

2010-03-08T09:46:00.002+01:00

DANSK

Today is International Women´s Day. This year celebrating its 100 year centenary. I´m celebrating it by focussing on two strong women who fought on two fronts. First by choosing the art as their lifework and second by choosing to become sculptors.

Astrid Noack 1888 - 1954

Astrid Noack in her studio

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen 1863-1945

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen and Carl Nielsen

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen in her studio

It was not exactly small handy mantlepieces these two women created, which you might be able to see if you follow the links.

Spring

2010-03-04T17:28:00.000+01:00

DANSK

Like so many others I have catched a cold and that only because of an immense longing for this:

Fritz Syberg Spring 1891-93

Den Hirschsprungske Samling

(Photo: Den Hirschsprungske Samling)

Vilhelm Lundstrøm

2010-03-02T14:47:00.000+01:00

DANSK

This Sunday I went to Fuglsang Art Museum and one of the artists we couldn´t get enough of was Vilhelm Lundstrøm. His immediate static idiom has an underlying dynamics and tactility. The chalk-white pot feels cool and smooth, the peaces feels warm, soft and furry. Unfortunately it is not possible to show those works which we saw at the museum, but one of them was very similar to this one from AROS, Aarhus Kunstmuseum.

Vilhelm Lundstrøm 1929

(Photo: AROS)

Freddie Yauner Signs of Life

2010-02-27T21:22:00.002+01:00

It´s hard being the exit-man standing on one leg all day

Freddie Yauner Signs of Life

Paul Chan

2010-02-25T20:11:00.000+01:00

My first YouTube video ;-)

Paul Chan 1st light
Music: Islaja

Barbara Hepworth

2010-02-23T20:58:00.000+01:00

Barbara Hepworth Oval sculpture 1943

Pier Arts Centre, Orkney (Photo: from Kettles Yard, Cambridge)

The Cholmondeley Ladies - Tate

2010-02-19T21:25:00.001+01:00

The Cholmondeley Ladies - Brititish School - Seventeenth Century

Tate Britain (Photo: Tate)

Even though it´s about 9 years ago I last saw this art piece, it´s still printed in my memory as something speciel. Now it´s part of my ArtShare collection on Facebook

From my series of favourites:
Pipilotti Rist
Amadeo Modigliani

Guerilla Girls Frida Kahlo talks about Georgia O´Keeffe

2010-02-15T19:55:00.004+01:00

Whitney Museum of Art

Pipilotti Rist - Aarhus

2010-02-11T14:49:00.001+01:00

DANSK

At AROS - Museum of Art Aarhus,( Denmark) - it only takes 8 minuttes to pass through day and night. That is if you take a seat in the installation by Pipilotti Rist: "Dawn at the neighbours house". A part of the exhibition space "9 rooms".

Pipilotti Rist "Dawn at the neighbours house" 2005

(Photo: aarhus.nu)

Apollonia

2010-02-09T09:35:00.000+01:00

Apollonnia - Vendel Church - Sweden

(Photo: Medeltidens Bildvärld)

Patron Saint for dentists

Attribute: Tongs

Children at Thorvaldsens Museum - Copenhagen

2010-02-08T20:20:00.004+01:00

DANSK

Yesterday we brought my two years old niece along on a visit to The Thorvaldsens Museum in Copenhagen. It is not the first time we have had children with us while going to a museum, but they were older. Therefore, we were quiet curious about the visit.

Bertel Thorvaldsen Christ 1821

(Photo: Thorvaldsens Museum)

For some mysterious reason, she is intrigued by Jesus. Nobody in the family is especially believers and all refuse to have anything to do with her interest in Jesus . But a fact it is and at the Thorvaldsens Museum they have a very, very large Christ figure. That was what we wanted her to see! What we had not included in our calculations was that when you are not much more than 75 cm. high and stands in front of a sculpture which towers nearly 5 meters up in the air, it's probably a little hard to get the full picture. Resolutely she renamed the apostles and called them all for Jesus. Peace from the adults who went on pointing to something huge saying "See, Jesus." It was much more fun to stand in front of the angel and look in to her eyes while swinging the rope which surrounded her.

Bertel Thorvaldsen Baptismal Angel kneeling 1827

(Photo: Thorvaldsens Museum)

Angels are another hit. Actually, I never thought of that there were so many angels at the Thorvaldsens Museum, but it is one of the major benefits of bringing children to a museum. They simply often see something totally different from what we do. And they makes us see other things when we try to find something at the museum who can appeal to their world. In this context, I was also surprised that there were so many animals at the Thorvaldsens Museum. The lion I could remember and the horses but all the orther animals I had forgotten. Not that I have never seen the owl in The Night, but really seen it like yesterday, I never did before.

Bertel Thorvaldsen The Night 1815

(Photo: Thorvaldsens Museum)

And, especially The Night and The Day were two other hits yesterday. Like the lion, and in particular its tail.

But we did not only look at the arts. The long corridors are good for "running" - as fast as a two-year-old runs! Hide and seek among the apostle is fun and the acoustics aroused enthusiasm. You can get a pretty good sound out of stamping your little feet and even when speaking low the words resonate. And, just so it is probably best to do like us and go to the museum before the other guests come or pass by on a weekday.

Trine Søndergaard og Nicolai Howalt - Brandts Klædefabrik

2010-02-05T16:39:00.002+01:00

DANSK

At the exhibition This Way 10 at Museet for Fotokunst (Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense) you can see the installation Tree Zone by Trine Sondergaard and Nicolai Howalt

Photo: Nicolai Howalt

Besides the very appropriate in seeing the installation on a day when the fog was above a landscape covered with snow all the way on the train from Copenhagen to Odense, it struck me how ornamental the images are. This is best viewed at a distance where the blurry dark outline of trees emerge as patterns on the milky light background. Japanese art also popped up in my mind as I stood there and looked at them. There was something in it's minimalist and pure expression which reminded me of that. That it´s not the same as the artists had in mind with the project, is not something to bother about ;-).

Besides Trine Sondergaard and Nicolai Howalt the following artists are on show: Augusta Atlas, Kasper Bonnen, Linda Hansen, Eva Marie Rødbro, Emil Salto and Ebbe Stub Wittrup

Blogposts on photo art:
Danilo Correale and Astrid Kruse Jensen
Barbara Nati
Ana Janeiro

Sonja Ferlov Mancoba

2010-02-04T20:53:00.001+01:00

DANSK

Sonja Ferlov Mancoba Sculptur 1969 Museum of Modern Art Aalborg

""What really matters is not the sculptures, but the spirit of fellowship which one tries to express. I would say that the things themselves are only a means to an end. The value of the pieces lies in the moment when they have a direct bearing on life, when they help us to see more clearly, give us heart, help us to get to grips with life. But the pieces are not life. They are a reflection of life" Sonja Ferlov Mancoba

(From the book "Sonja Ferlov Mancoba Sculptures" text in Danish and English)

Shahzia Sikander

2010-02-03T21:46:00.003+01:00

DANSK

An introduction to Shahzia Sikander from TeacherTubeFineArts

Other blogposts on Shahzia Sikander:
Shahzia Sikander som kurator

Japanese contemporary art - Japanese Suppleness Frederiksværk 2007

2010-02-01T17:03:00.003+01:00

DANSK

Yesterday, I finally uploaded 47 photos I've had on this computer since 2007. The images are from the exhibition Japanese Suppleness which took place in Frederiksværk (Denmark) the same year.
It is generally difficult to find photos of Japanese contemporary art on the internet and yesterday when I searched on the artists names I had very few hits.
I hope that the collection can help to raise awareness of Japanese contemporary art. For the same reason I have added text. The text I found in the press material for the exhibition at the site pressport. In every photo I have made a tag with the artist's name for you to click on to see all photos of this particulary artist's works.

You can see the collection by clicking on this link

Masae Bamba

"I chose SHIBORI as the method which made two-dimensional cloth to change into the three-dimensional.
As for the cloth which was a plane, which then changes to the solid while it is absorbed in the repetition of the dull work where I sew cloth and to tie it and to dye it.
I think that may look like a monotonous daily life.
Even if one self isn’t impressed so, a person changes securely in the repetition of the dull daily life again, too.
I try to look back on the time when it has passed.
Though it is one day ago or it isn’t understood whether it is the one second ago, I certainly have changed.
This work is such past self-image." Masae Bamba

Amadeo Modigliani "Alice"

2010-01-31T13:48:00.000+01:00

Amadeo Modigliani "Alice", about 1928

On view at The National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst)

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Pia Arke - Den Frie and The National Museum of Denmark

2010-01-28T12:32:00.002+01:00

DANSK

Last sunday I wore my long woollen underwear, an extra sweater and pulled the hood of my jacket up over my knitted hat. Ready for a bikeride to the Copenhagen exhibition hall called Den Frie to see Pia Arkes works.
Her works is for the most part based on scenes and people from Greenland. I fellt very appropriate dressed.

I can highly recommend the exhibition - and that you keep wearing your long underwear.It is freezing cold in the building! What I find most interesting about Pia Arkes art is partly her juxtaposition of the scientific and the personal and partly her exploration of photography as a medium. If you've read just a little about the exhibition ( if not: click here) you already know that she built a camera obscura, which she could stand inside. But also other photos in the exhibition shows how she explored the possibilities of photography including adding templates to them.

Pia Arke (Photo: Det Nationale Fotomuseum)

A part from her photographies I am quite excited about this installation / sculpture:

Pia Arke Soil for Scorebysund, 1998 (Photo: Den Frie Udstillingsbygning)

"It is three people´s consumption of coffee over four months. When I was in Greenland I was going to throw out the coffee ground, but I was told that I shouldn´t do that, as they wanted to have some more soil. After a sufficient lenght of time coffee becomes earth." (from the exhibition catalogue)

"The exhibition continues at the National Museum" stood on a sign at the end. A little bit different I would say to need a bikeride to get the continuation of an exhibition. Not the next floor but the other end of town. But I did it.

At the National Museum the exhibition has more the character of a treasure hunt as Pia Arkes works is exhibited within the Eskimo collection. It was fun and worked well, but it was also a little strange to walk around in a historical museum and only be interested in art and not the artifacts people normally come for. Fortunately there were other than me. We could spot each other by the yellow (free!) Exhibition catalogue we carried around.

Read about the exhibiton

Read about Pia Arke

Other blog entries on artists working in the field Pia Arke called Etno - Aesthetics. A concept which covers the hopes you as ethnic / non-western artist is expected to meet. Namely to deal with your own ethnic culture in a way that confirms the Western look at this culture. Those these three artists meet these expectations?:
Runa Islam
Shirin Neshat
Anish Kapoor

Lilibeth Cuenca

2010-01-25T18:04:00.001+01:00

DANSK

The performance and video artist Lilibeth Cuenca is born 1970 in Manila (Philippine). Lives and works in Copenhagen.

Watch her video performance The Artists Song (2007) filmed at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen)

And now to something completely different

2010-01-21T19:18:00.001+01:00

DANSK

Todays blogpost is after several blogposts on contemporary art a large leap back in time.

Skt. Agnes, Rasbo kirke (1453), Uppland, Sverige (Foto: Medeltidens Bildvärld)

You´ll find the blogpost on the blog "Kalkmalerier". The subject is Saint Stefan and Saint Agnes in Danish and Swedish limepaintings. It´s all in Danish which means you have an excellent excuse for only looking at the photos ;-)

Miss Universum

2010-01-19T19:36:00.000+01:00

DANSK

Miss Universum is on show at the exhibition "En helt normal udstilling" at Overgaden with this video: "På Tunnelbanan"

Watch it here but down miss the exhibition if you are near Copenhagen.

homersapa

""What´s cooking" - Helena Hei-Sook Park at Overgaden

2010-01-17T21:02:00.001+01:00

DANSK

I still have the taste and feel of dead skin in my mouth. It emerged after I had eaten Helen Hei-Sook Parks meal consisting of hot wet rice paper and fruit icecubes and will not go away. The meal she served at the end of her performance, "What's Cooking" at Overgaden - Institute for contemporary art earlier today. A performance which by the 25 pots with rice and a ritual meal made by the artist shows the housewifes monotony and self-forgetfulness. It is a performance which is perceived by the entire body and which excites both smell and taste. Besides the closing meal some rice are left in the pots to catch and the space is filled with the smell of burnt milk. The senses are also awakened, as the artist after taking her ritual meal vomit. There were certainly some in the audience who were happy that it is not one of the artist's core competences. It came only to a small regurgitation and a slight splashing.

Helen Hei-Sook Park (f.1975) completed her training at the Royal Academy of Arts (Copenhagen) last year and was on show at the exhibition Exit '09. At the time I didn´t see her performance, "Woman in Control", but the video "Pancake 4 minutes. Up in the air" is still clear in my mind.

"Pancake 4 minutes. Up in the air"

Read more about Helena Hei-Sook Parks art - (In Danish) The Royal Academy of Arts

A cure against winter depression

2010-01-16T14:07:00.000+01:00

DANSK

"To be taken 3 times a day" it says on the cover of the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad yesterday. And, no it is not an advertisement from the pharmaceutical industry, but an article on art's healing properties.

Pernelle Maegaard No titel (2000)

50 years ago the journal "Science" published a research project, which found that music reduced pain in dental patients.Since then arts healing properties has been researched in many different contexts and within recent years this research has increased. Lately a study by the Psychiatric Hospital in Risskov, shows that art therapy helps patients with psychosis and personality disorders.

Art activates and rebuild different centers in the brain and therefore is art not only good for psychiatric patients, but also dementia and cancer patients have shown progress in feeling better.

You do not of course need to be sick to enjoy art's healing properties. If it can help to heal, it can surely prevent as well. And, therefore, it is natural to take the recommendation to oneself - art three times a day! Don´t forget every day to put your favorite music on the CD player, go and see an exhibition often and watch a good movie or whatever kind of art that brings you the greatest joy.

Nina Kleivan No titel

From the exhibition People Painting People

Personally, I know it´s time again for an intake. It is a full week since I last was at an exhibition.But it was two good days in a row with Pipilotti Rist at Louisiana and the day after People Painting People in Gallery Rebecca Kormind. So now I will combine the Saturday purchase with a quick visit to Gallery V1 and look forward to tomorrow where I shall see Helen Hei-Sook Park's performance, "What's cooking" at Overgaden

Earlier blog entries on the topic

Beautiful paintings dampens pain (in Danish)

Marlene Dumas

2010-01-13T21:13:00.004+01:00

DANSK

Marlene Dumas is born 1953 in Syd-Afrika and lives in Amsterdam.

Watch a group of her work in video 1 and listen to her telling about art in video 2 - absolutely not boring!

hans theys

MOMAvideos

Other artist portraits:
Sam Taylor Wood
Elisabeth Toubro (in Danish)
Anne Deleporte (in Danish)

Pipilotti Rist Homo sapiens sapiens on Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

2010-01-11T21:03:00.002+01:00

DANSK

"I hope that people after seeing my work all go home and hang their flat screens at the ceiling! Then they would see things quite differently - and it would also give more room in the house" Pipilotti Rist in Fredensborg Lokalavis

Todays blogpost on the Danish version of artblog is exclusively linking to Danish broadcast and newspapers. It makes no sense to translate that, but I´ve found one useful link in English (apparently a press release that appears in several onlinemagazines) about the work now displayed at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. I saw the work myself last Thursday and I´m not disapointed. What a travel into a unique and different world! Two Eves cruising in a at the same time baroque, psychedelic and kaleidoscopic world.

Other blogposts on Pipilotti Rist
Pipilotti Rist talks about Pour Your Body Out
Pipilotti Rist in Venice (in Danish)
Du bist eine Butterblume (in Danish)

Elliott Hundley

2010-01-08T22:31:00.002+01:00

DANSK

One of the artists that really blew me away on Louisiana Museum of Modern Art's exhibition The World Is Yours was Elliott Hundley. I am quite unreserved enthusiastic about his three-dimensional collages filled with thousands of tiny wonderful details.

Elliott Hundley is born 1975 in USA. Educated in painting and sculpture.

A work of Persol at YouTube

More works of Elliott Hundley:

Andrea Rosen Gallery

Saatchi Gallery

Other artist portraits on the blog:
Larissa Sansour (in Danish)
Joshua Reynolds (in Danish)
Rita Kerrn-Larsen (in Danish)

Meet Pipilotti Rist at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

2010-01-06T20:03:00.004+01:00

DANSK

Tomorrow, Thursday at 19.00 hours you can meet Pipilotti Rist at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in connection with the opening of her videoinstallation Homo sapiens sapiens.

Warm up with this video from MOMA, in which Pipilotti Rist is telling about the videoinstallation Pour Your Body Out, which was made especially for MOMA last winter.

MOMAvideos

You find Louisiana Museum of Modern Art at Facebook

Other blogposts on Pipilotti Rist
Pipilotti Rist in Venice (in Danish)
Du bist eine Butterblume (in Danish)

Mona Lisa with MS Paint

2010-01-05T20:36:00.001+01:00

DANSK

It´s absolutely essential to turn up the loudspeaker!

EclecticAsylumArt

Meeting with an old goat

2010-01-04T17:47:00.002+01:00

It is not the first you meet. The Goat. But it is there. As a magnet it draws people to the Moderna Museet in Malmo. An old goat with a tire around his stomach and color blobs in the head.

Robert Rauschenberg Monogram 1955-59

Robert Rauschenberg created the work Monogram at a time when the art concept was considerably expanded. A work of art was no longer created solely with brush and canvas or in the form of a sculpture. Happenings were a part of the art world order and everyday life objects gathered in the new concept: assemblage.

All this took shape in the 1950s, and the artists took it further into the 60s, which was seriously affected by the new concept of art. In Malmö you will meet some representatives of this. There are photos and videos of Carole Schneemann performances, including Eye Body of 1963, Yves Klein's Relief EPONGES / Bleu RE17 from 1960 with the distinctive blue color and Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe in Black and White of 1962. Some of Diane Arbus' photographies submit up to the next exhibition at the museum and the list grows longer still. Jean Tingueley, Claes Oldenburg, Lena Svedberg, Dan Flavin, James Rosenquist, Louise Nevelson, Nam June Paik, Öyvind Fahlström, Jon-E Franzén, Lena Cronqvist, Yayoi Kusama and, finally, just opposite the famous goat, Niki de Saint Phalles Tir de Jasper Johns of 1961. One of her "shooting paintings".

Niki de Saint Phalle Tir de Jasper Johns, 1961

And so it´s the end of the '60s. Anyway at Moderna Museet Malmö. Just on the other side of the threshold is Astrid's Svangren Vad jag minnes and Luc Tuymans Against the Day. Back in our own time.

You can follow Moderna Museet at Facebook

A happy New Year for the art

2010-01-02T16:46:00.002+01:00

Artblog wishes everyone a happy new year with a new layout, new features (including artblog in English) and lots of good New Years resolutions.
Among others, I must honestly admit that I am rather annoyed over a series of exhibitions that I haven´t seen in 2010. I am so annoyed and ashamed that I do not even want to tell what they are, but I can show so much that they are all at Berlingske and Politiken's list of the best in 2009 and I promise I will do much better in 2010! Among the exhibitions I have seen, there are 5 who are left in memory and must therefore be described as:

The best 5 in 2009

Max Ernst at Louisina Museum of Modern Art

Mike Nelson at Statens Museum for Kunst

Ellen Klarskov Jørgensen, The Center for Urban Pedagogy, Skulpturi

Nina Kleivan og Lotte Tauber Lassen, Timetravellers for beginners, Mønsted Hus

David Shrigley, Galleri Nikolaj Wallner

Ellen Klarskov Jørgensen Center for Urban Pedagogy

There were certainly a few disappointments as well. Here among the Venice Biennale, Nature Strikes Back at Statens Museum for Kunst and Charlottenborgs latest exhibition Native Land. But why pay attention to them. It is time to look ahead. A new year awaits, and with it new exhibitions.

Five I want to see at the beginning of 2010
Moderna Museet Malmö
The museum opened the 26th. December in Rooseums old premises and has arised out of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Moderna Museet Malmö will run their own exhibitions as well as display works from big sister's archives. At the moment the museums shows two exhibitions - Luc Tuymans Against the Day and Svangren Vad I minns - as well as selected works from the 1960s under the heading Spektakuläre tider.

The Mask, Galleri Mikael Andersen
The Mask is a group exhibition that revolves around the concept of the mask. The exhibition includes artists like Christina Andersen, Andreas Hofer and Sonja Ferlov Mancoba. The latter is in itself a reason to get moving.

Pipilotti Rist at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
At the Venice Biennale in 2005, I never got to see Pipilotti Rists Homo Sapiens Sapiens at the church of San Stae. Before I came to Venice the video installation was taken down. Apparently there was scenes in the video, which was not appropriate in a church. Now is the chance to judge the offensive for myself and to a joyful reunion with a favorite artist. From 7th. January in Louisiana.

Karin Lorentzen Cultivator at Skulpturi
Skulpturi is one of my absolute favorite exhibition spaces. Who else has dedicated an exhibition space for sculpture? Karin Lorentzen's work with sculpture is always an enjoyable challenge and I look forward to the exhibition opening 16th. January

Jeppe Hein, AROS
The exhibition requires hardly any introduction. It should have been on the list of exhibitions in 2009 and I´m making it at the last moment!

Pipiloti Rist Homo sapiens sapiens

To keep ones New Years resolutions is perfectly possible if one takes precautions. One of these is to know ones soft points. With a little self-awareness it should not be difficult to identify them. However, my experience says me that it is not that clever to trumpet ones good intentions to the world, so you may just keep an eye on the blog and perhaps you´ll figure out what my resolutions for 2010 are. Whether I´ll succeed the time will show.