Thomas Øvlisen
In the works by Thomas Øvlisen, the seagull - with its scavenging and noisy nature - is a recurring motif. It deserves as a symbol of freedom, yet also as a reminder against romanticizing the very thing. The banality of the seagull’s liberty is “going for hot dogs and herring alike”, as the artist puts it. Much like the industrial detritus and found objects Øvlisen often employs as materials, the seagull is not picky and makes use of what is discarded. Indeed, it comes to stand for Øvlisen’s own artmaking process, as he renegotiates Modernist paradigms through a radical eclecticism of materials and ideas. In Øvlisen’s heterogeneous universe, everyday utopianism meets sober realism, which invites thought, play, and the free flight of the imagination.
Born Denmark in 1974
Lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark
EDUCATION
BFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, US
Kreativ Basis, Reklameskolen, Copenhagen, Denmark
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBTIONS
2023
I AM THE OCEAN, OUTPOST, Copenhagen, Denmark
Når i morgen bli’r i går, Kongegaarden, Korsør, Denmark
2021
Anden stjerne til højre, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark
2019
Variations In Blue, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2017
See a Penny, Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, UU
2016
Techno Fossil Tumbleweed, Eighteen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Knud, Sade LA, Los Angeles, California, US
2015
New Decks, Street Machine, Copenhagen, Denmark
2014
Jørgen Larsen, Taarbæk, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, US
2013
Grazing Blitz, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2012
Tomato, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York,
US
2011
Jesus Christ Get off My Back, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2009
(Perfect) Invisible for Ever Changing, Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, US
2008
UP ROCK, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2006
Nothing Stays the Same, Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, US
2005
Void, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2003
Stuff, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBTIONS
2022
V1 XX - Twenty years of V1 Gallery, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
CHART Art Fair with V1 Gallery, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
2021
It’s Weird to Disappear, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2020
MINE IV, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2019
MINE III, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Birds, CHART Art Fair with V1 Gallery, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
2018
MINE II, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2017
MINE, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2016
New Thoughts, New Visions, Hearst Corporation, New York, US
2015
13, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2014
Chart Art Fair, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Art Cologne, V1 Gallery, Cologne, Germany
Market Art Fair, V1 Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Dallas Art Fair, Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, Dallas, US
Heerup in the Middle, Viborg Kunsthal, Viborg, Denmark
2013
Heerup i Midten, Heerup Museum, Rødovre, Denmark
Industrious Abstraction, V1 Gallery – Chart Art Fair, Copenhagen
ZEIGEN. An Audio Tour through Copenhagen by Karin Sander, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark
Secret Garden II, Museum Gl. Holtegaard, Holte, Denmark
Xstraction, The Hole Gallery, New York, US
2012
Secret Garden Contemporary art in the Baroque Garden, Museum Gl. Holtegaard, Holte, Denmark
The Quality of Presence, curated by Dmitry Komis, Chelsea Hotel, New York, US
Art Copenhagen, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Volta 8, V1 Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2011
Status – Somewhere Between Position and Condition, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Insurgencies, curated by Shane Bradford & Peter Lamb
OneShot, Kunstpakhuset, Ikast, Denmark
2010
Weight Perception, Curated by Andrew Schoultz, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, US
2007
Paper Trails, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2006
There is a U in Us, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
CRG Gallery Presents, Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, US
2005
Diesel New Art 2005, Gallery Edition, (jury selection from Diesel New Art competition 2005), Copenhagen, Denmark
Framed, V1 Gallery + Turbine Hallerne, Copenhagen, Denmark
Gallery Asbæk Summer Show, Gallery Asbæk, Copenhagen, Denmark
2004
V1 Group Show, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2003
Jules Show, Galleri Asbæk, Copenhagen, Denmark
2002
Group Show, Centro Cultural Andratx, Mallorca, Spain
Winter Landscapes, Riget Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2019
Future Techno Fossil Tumbleweed, takes off after Øvlisens solo exhibition at Eighteen in 2016, unique hand painte cover signed and numbered, published by At Last Books, by Adrianna Campell, Nick Paumgarten, Knud Romer, Jesper Elg, Paul Auster, Paul Barols
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
2011 – NNIT, Denmark
2009 – Novo A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark
2005 – Novo A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark
2004 – PriceWaterHouseCoopers, Hellerup, Denmark
2003 – Haldor Topsaee A/S, Lyngby, Denmark
Novozymes, Bagsvaerd, Denmark
2000 – Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark
1998 – Damgaerd Data (now Microsoft), Copenhagen, Denmark
AWARDS
2005 – Diesel New Art 2005, Finalist
2001 – Andrew Mellon Fellowship,
The Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design
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