Two Danes and an American
Paul Brainard, Frodo Mikkelsen og Morten Hemmingsen Sørup
OPENING
SATURDAY 13. JANUARY 2018 2-4 PM
13. JANUAR – 4. FEBRUARY 2018
Frodo Mikkelsen: Tot-Totem III. Painted wood. 62 x 28,5 x 28,5 cm. 2017.
It is with great pleasure that we invite to the opening of the exhibition Two Danes and An American. The exhibition presents sculptures, objects, installations, drawings and paintings by Paul Brainard (US), Frodo Mikkelsen (DK) and Morten Hemmingsen Sørup (DK). The three artists works within different genres and media and permit the the viewer to explore totem poles adorned with skulls, pictures from New York´s life and society together with palm tree sunsets and everyday life situations.
Under the title Scrambled Eggs we present works by Danish artist Morten Hemmingsen Sørup. Sørup´s artistic universe is a wonderful mix of street culture, sarcasm, humour and colors. An unpretentious and teasing combination of expressions and impressions. Scrambled Eggs. The exhibited works and reliefs comment on small and big moments in our everyday life as much as they also and rather obvious point out the artist´s play with language and absurdity. Morten Hemmingsen (born 1978) lives and works in Copenhagen. Han has had exhibitions nationally and internationally. Most recently at the Heerup Museum, The Kastrupgård Collection, Lunchmoney in Aarhus and at the Munch Gallery in New York.
With inspiration from family members and people from his own social circle, celebrity culture and religion Paul Brainard has created a series of different and complex portraits refering to the title Deep Elimination.
A common aesthetic trait in Brainard´s work is the dark and straightforward sensibility. Looked at from a formal point of view the works stands out as a combination of very different expressive energies and precision. The different pictorial elements refer to depth as well as surface. There exists an obvious rebelious character in both execution as well as choice of subject which leads the viewer to recall own experiences and reconsider positions and actions. The works channel a voice towards our media dominated society. Time is shown as a compressed entity in which forms overlap and eliminate one other and random figures exist in a semi abstract environment. Brainard permits abstraction and representation to push and pull and in doing so he points out the absence of substance and spirituality in our modern society. Paul Brainard was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He holds a degree from University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art School, Pittsburgh and Pratt Institute Brooklyn, NY. Brainard lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Han has among other exhibited at the Second Street Gallery, Lodge Gallery, New York and also Dvorak Sec Contemporary, Czech Republic.
Refering to the title TOT-TOTEM Danish artist Frodo Mikkelsen shows new paintings, sculptures and objects whose immidiate nature seems raw, with texture, dark and made up of different elements. The skulls which physically mimes the standing form of the totem pole clearly comments on cultural conventions and is, like Mikkelsen´s other works, unbending when looking at genre and traditions. Together with the lonesome rider in the paintings (the artist himself as a cowboy) they point towards a great wish to celebrate the past and present, culture, colors and forms. At the same time the also clearly link to Pop Art´s mode of expression through the use of glitter, richness of color and iconic references. Traditionally, the totem pole has been used as a picture of a relative´s connection and access to the spiritual world and through that rights to certain histories, traditional dance and songs. For the exhibition Mikkelsen has modified the object and combined it with a another iconic form - the skull. This combination - TOT_TOTEM - the artist reminds us of all the beautiful and memorable things that life has to offer. That we should pay homage to life and pay more attention in general. The duality is also visible in the paintings where we are introduced to Western life and cultural worship.
Frodo Mikkelsen (born 1974) lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. He started of as a graffiti artist in 1984 and has since 1990 worked professionally with art as an exhibiting artist and curator and since 2005 this has been his liveliohood. Mikkelsen got his debut at Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling in Copenhagen in 2001 and has most recently exhibited at The Kastrupgård Collection, the National Museum of Denmark, and abroad in France, Sweden and the US.
For more information about the exhibition and press images please contact the gallery at +45 2245 2037 or via email cd@gallerioxholm.dk. The exhibition ends on Sunday 4. February 2018. The gallery is open Wednesday-Friday 12-6 PM and Saturday and Sunday 12-4 PM
Paul Brainard: Brooklyn Ironic Festival”, 66 x 99,5 cm, pencil on paper. 2017
Morten Hemmingsen Sørup: One Place ... Another, wood, acrylic and laquer. 42 x 82 cm. 2017