Kathrine Ærtebjerg, En sky er en pige er en dreng er en kat, 30 Aug 24 - 19 Jan 25, Nikolaj Kunsthal

Описание: What does it mean to be human? Can we imagine being a different age or a different species? What is the relationship between life and death? Where does new life come from? Questions like these are at the heart of Kathrine Ærtebjerg’s exhibition consisting of new paintings, wood figures, works on paper, a sculpture and a sound work.

New in this exhibition is Ærtebjerg’s inclusion of works by the late Danish artist Ovartaci in her visual narrative. For both Ærtebjerg and Ovartaci the imagination is a tool of joy, creativity and liberation, but also the source of dark and angst-ridden sides of the complex human mind. For both artists spirituality, gender, identity, sexuality and transformation are central to their art and way of seeing the world. Both of them also suspend the boundaries between inner and outer worlds in works featuring composite figures of animals and people.

Although of different generations, Ærtebjerg and Ovartaci approach art as an existential investigation of life. The works arise from inner dream universes free of norms, presenting surreal scenarios with recognisable figures and imaginary beings side by side. Both artists are also inspired by religious ideas such as reincarnation, and operate with fluid gender, body and identity boundaries in encounters with the universal.

In Ærtebjerg’s works fantasy and the imagination play a key role. She speaks to the world and herself through her art - a path to generate life and dialogue. The artist herself says:
My imagination creates images. Images full of life. Full of beauty and playfulness. Full of horror and sadness. Full of hope. I paint a flower, and the flower speaks to me. It asks: Who are you? Who am I? What kind of world is this? In my mind everything is alive, everything has a soul. I paint, and what I paint speaks to me. My imagination paints as I watch and the painting asks: Who am I? Who are you?

The sources of inspiration for Ærtebjerg’s work are many – from religious icons to Japanese animation films, from the painters Frida Kahlo to Odilon Redon, from poets and writers Søren Kierkegaard to Inger Christensen.

ABOUT KATHRINE ÆRTEBJERG
Kathrine Ærtebjerg was born in Sorø and graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2002. She uses many different media and formats in her art, including painting, poetry, sculpture, sound and animation. Ærtebjerg’s works are in the collections of major museums, including ARoS, SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, the Royal Collection of Graphic Art and the collection of the New Carlsberg Foundation. She has also been commissioned to create art for Gellerup Library, Marselisborg High School, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, as well as Amalienborg Palace.

ABOUT OVARTACI
Ovartaci, whose legal name was Louis Marcussen (1894-1985), created a unique artistic universe during the 56 years he spent in a psychiatric hospital in Risskov near Aarhus. The artist’s works are highly acclaimed and testify to his imaginative and complex inner life. In 2022 Ovartaci was represented in Milk of Dreams, the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Museum Ovartaci, a museum dedicated to the artist, has recently opened in Aarhus.

Kathrine Ærtebjerg, En sky er en pige er en dreng er en kat (A Cloud Is a Girl Is a Boy Is a Cat), 30 August 2024 - 19 January 2025, Nikolaj Kunsthal.

The video is produced by Jonas Fogh

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