Thomas Øvlisen

Inquiry

Bio

Thomas Øvlisen (b. 1974) lives and works in Copenhagen. He holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Øvlisen approaches art as a space where imagination and material reality meet. His practice unfolds between everyday utopianism and sober realism, combining play, reflection, and material experimentation.

Working with found and industrial materials such as PET plastic, discarded shopping bags, and table tennis tabletops, Øvlisen often juxtaposes them with traditionally valued processes like bronze casting, questioning established hierarchies of material worth. Recurring motifs such as the seagull function as both symbol and counter-symbol, embodying freedom while undermining its romanticization through banality and scavenging pragmatism. Much like the detritus he employs, the seagull reflects an artmaking process rooted in reuse, adaptability, and radical eclecticism. Through this approach, Øvlisen revisits and renegotiates modernist ideals, offering subtle critiques of consumerism, sustainability, and human interaction with nature. His works transform overlooked objects into contemplative forms that balance optimism with critique, inviting reconsideration of value, permanence, and the imaginative potential embedded in the ordinary.

Exhibitions

2022

V1 XX - Twenty years of V1 Gallery

2021

It’s Weird to Disappear

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

Techno Fossil Tumbleweed

2015

2013

Grazing Blitz

2011

Jesus Christ Get Off My Back

2007

2008

2006

2005

2003

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