Tag: Fredrik Værslev
Zak Kitnick & Fredrik Værslev //
Johan Berggren Gallery is pleased to present the work of two emerging artists, Zak Kitnick (US) and Fredrik Værslev (NO), in an exhibition curated by Geir Haraldseth (NO). The didactic desire to contrast and compare the work of two different artists is hard to avoid, in particular when the two share a wealth of references and interests, while still differing in methods and ideologies. Both artists have used the physical gallery space as more than just a staging area for the works, as Kitnick tackles the walls and the window of the gallery, and Værslev the terrazzo floor and the carpet. This is not just a simple continuation of concerns raised by artists working with institutional critique, examining and mining the mechanisms of the gallery space and the art world, but a fusing of, and simultaneous critique, of architecture, design, art, and decor.
The first room is directly linked to minimalism and the works echo the concerns of scale and the human body, creating sculptural interactions that also reference a history of painting, both of high and vernacular, and architecture. Kitnick has installed four sets of blinds in relation to the window, creating a sculptural grid that filters the light, obscures the space, and intervenes with the architecture, while Værslev’s three large rectangular paintings all stem from an illusionist insistence on turning the canvas and paint into stone, using methods and techniques that range from Jackson Pollock to graffiti.
The second room continues Værslev’s floor fetish and is made in collaboration with Ståle Vold (NO). The carpet as canvas creates a dialog between Vold and Værslev, once teacher and student, revealing a journey through recent art history, while transforming the idea of the auteur artist into the work of a design team. Kitnick’s fascination with design is revealed in his Donald Judd inspired paintings based on a new design for a brownie tin, making sure to maximize crust. The concept of making life easier through design is examined in the paintings and parallels the idea of progress in painting and art.
The two artists are not timid or discreet about their references or their passions, creating room for questions that reveal more than a mere faithful approach to painting, institutional critique, appropriation, minimalism, or any other art historical trope would. Kitnick and Værslev have an irreverent, yet serious approach to art and the way art is projected and thought of in the world at large, and they brings those ideas and concepts back into the gallery.
JUDGE ME
JUDGE ME
Johan Berggren Gallery
Artists featured:Nicolas Ceccaldi, Leif Holmstrand, Andrei Koschmieder, Per-Oskar Leu, Eirik Sæther & Fredrik Værslev
Johan Berggren Gallery is pleased to present a short group show leading up to the Christmas holidays. Against a backdrop of painted portraits of high court justices a theme and arena is set to explore creative decision making and intuition. The imposed, overall condition has been short notice and the aim to still present consistent works and a well conceived show. It’s tapping into the current works of a number of artists whom have either exhibited in the gallery or will exhibit in the near future.
Dan Rees & Fredrik Værslev
STANDARD (OSLO) is pleased to present “Shelf Paintings (Pottery In October) (Decorations By Dan Rees)”, a collaboration between artists Dan Rees and Fredrik Værslev. Having studied together at Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, the continued conversation has resulted in a set of ten collaborative works that are linking the anecdotal with the analytical in regards to painting as product and process.
RED:
“I’m a much more confident person than when I started here, which comes with age” […] “I’m able to handle things which I wouldn’t back then, things that would have bothered me. If I wasn’t playing well I was devastated. Now I’m disappointed, but I know I’ll come back.”
– Ryan Giggs
GOLD:
“‘Shelf Paintings’ is a series of paintings executed with spray paint on plywood. The prototype was based on my mothers description of an ideal painting – a painting that would not interfere with whatever was placed in front of it, but rather function in the way that the perfect blouse brings out the tones of your skin or the colour of your eyes. The motives of these paintings are abstracted or faded colour formations similar to the backdrop of the “Good Morning America” TV studio, to that of tapestry, or the sky on a nice evening. Underneath the paintings a wooden shelf has been mounted with hinges. The shelf is sort of a platform for decorations of all kinds. The colour formations on the paintings are primarily based on wishes from those who will decorate them.”
– Fredrik Værslev
GREEN:
“And I’ll come running to tie your shoe
I’ll come running to tie your shoe
I’ll come running to tie your shoe
I’ll come running to tie your shoe.”
– Brian Eno, “I’ll Come Running” from “Another Green World” (1975)
WHITE:
Squash or smack / white on white / a ping-pong painting.
Dan Rees (b. 1982, Swansea, United Kingdom) lives and works in Berlin. Since graduating from Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main in 2008 Rees has had solo exhibitions with Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin, Galerie Andreas Huber, Vienna, as well a solo presentation at Art Basel 40 earlier this year with T293, Naples. Throughout the course of the exhibition Rees’ works can also be seen in his solo exhibition – “Junk On A Thing” – at Johan Berggren Gallery in Malmö.
Fredrik Værslev (b. 1979, Moss, Norway) lives and works in Drøbak, Norway, and Malmö, Sweden, where he will graduate from the Malmö Art Academy in 2010. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmö; Studio, Venice; Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt am Main; Basis, Frankfurt am Main, and Economy, Frankfurt am Main. Værslev is also serving as curator of the project space Landings, located outside of Oslo.