New art centre in Copenhagen




New art centre in Copenhagen

After 11 good years at Islands Brygge it is with great pleasure that Galleri Nicolai Wallner welcomes you in our new space at Ny Carlsberg 68 at an opening the 3rd of September 5 to 10 p.m.

Galleri Nicolai has on Ny Carlsberg Vej created a new nucleus for contemporary art in Copenhagen in a shared building with Nils Stærk, IMO, BKS Garage and Kopenhagen Publishing. To gather different galleries under one roof is exceptional in Scandinavia and will surely redefine and strengthen the Copenhagen art scene. The combination of already established, international galleries with new artist-run spaces is quite unique and it is our expectation that it will create an exciting and valuable synergy. 
The 800m2 Galleri Nicolai Wallner will open with three separate exhibitions: One solo exhibition with the English post-conceptual artist Jonathan Monk and one solo exhibition with the German artist Christoph Ruckhäberle. Besides this the gallery will also show the exhibition I – Works from the Nicolai Wallner Collection with selected works by Olafur Eliasson, Elmgreen & Dragset, David Shrigley, Peter Land and Jonathan Monk.

Books & Posters – New Sculptures by Jonathan Monk

Jonathan Monk’s new series of sculptures consists of bronze casts of padded envelopes and cardboard tubes, used to send books and posters of importance to the artist. Through the obvious contrast between the poor and disposable quality of the wrapping material and the permanence of the bronze, Jonathan Monk explores and rethinks the creative process and the role of the artist. Monk challenges both art and his own authority through these sculptures that also play with the fact that access to the content they originally protected is impossible from the moment they are made permanent in bronze. A paradox that aptly describes Monk’s own way of relating to art and art history.

Jonathan Monk has had solo exhibitions at several North American and European art institutions. Last year Monk had a double show at Palais de Tokyo (Paris) and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris).

 

L’Emmerdeur Futuriste by Christoph Ruckhäberle

Christoph Ruckhäberle has during the last years received acclaim for his paintings and prints. His new exhibition will present a new series of drawings that in regard to his paintings, shows a more unrestrained and direct way of dealing with the figurative. Ruckhäberle’s style points to several places in the art of the 20th century in a very original and contemporary way. With his keen eye for colour and form, Christoph Ruckhäberle has created fifty individual creatures that dance, grin, make faces, and show teeth. The figures are composed from a continuous combination of geometric elements and exist in a cross between abstraction and realism. Opposed to Ruckhäberle’s earlier production these new works explore less the melancholic and the existential issues but draw more on a rich visual tradition for the theatrical.

Christoph Ruckhäberle is internationally renowned as one of his generations most interesting and innovative painters. His works are represented at MOMA (New York) and in numerous other public collections in the US and Europe. This summer he had a larger solo show at the Migros Museum (Zürich).

I – Works from the Nicolai Wallner Collection

This exhibition presents a selection of Nicolai Wallner’s private collection with a focus on art that deal with identity and reflection of self.

Opposite an early but seminal work by Olafur Eliasson, a mirror that reflects a burning candle, one finds Elmgreen & Dragset’s Powerless Structures, Fig 19, a piece that evolves around sexuality and identity. The exhibition also offers a view of Peter Land’s iconic video Peter Land d. 5. maj 1994, which with humorous but also existential and melancholic self-exposure influenced a great portion of the video art of the mid 1990s.  Some of the same qualities one also finds in David Shrigley’s drawings with their simple but effective lines that present thoughtful ponderings on the human existence. Jonathan Monk is represented by Self-portrait (Where Abouts Unknown) that through its form makes the signature of the exhibition.

The exploration of the artist self formed the basis of many artworks made in the 1990s and accordingly a large part of the art that has been shown in Galleri Nicolai Wallner since the inauguration of the gallery in 1993. With works that span the period 1991 to 2003 the exhibition marks a place in art history but it also gives an image of the qualities and ambitions that drive our work today.

 

We look forward to inviting you to the opening of our exhibitions and the rest of the galleries and we wish to mark and celebrate this event and the unique collaboration that has been established between the galleries.

In connection with the opening there will be a musical performance by the band Asia Today featuring Andy Moss, Simon Fujiwara and Ingar Dragset of artist duo Elmgreen and Dragset.

The opening will have food from Thai restaurant Ranee’s and Den Økologiske Pølsemand. We will of course also offer a local beer, Carlsberg.

 

The opening will take place the 3rd of September 5 to 10 p.m. on Ny Carlsberg Vej 68. Everybody is welcome. We look forward to seeing you.

 

After the opening there will an after party from 11 p.m. on Karriere Bar, Flæsketorvet 57-67, København V.

Nicolai Wallner

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