Eighteen is pleased to present
The Missing Pieces
A solo exhibition by HuskMitNavn
OPENING: FRIDAY NOVEMBER 4. 2022. TIME: 16.00 -21.00
EXHIBITION PERIOD: NOVEMBER 5 – JANUARY 14. 2023
A woman casually rests against a floor mop, glancing at her smart phone, caught somewhere between introspection and distraction. A mundane moment that can be observed anywhere around the world on any given day. Our focus travels momentarily from the world that surrounds us to the world in the palm of our hand. She is wearing a blue workwear jacket, and you sense that she is cleaning the floors of a museum after public hours. Behind her hangs a painting of a female character with the same sway and pose as her, a double of sorts. The painting behind her is A Mountain Climber (En bjergbestigerske) from 1912, by the famed Danish modernist painter J.F. Willumsen. In Willumsen’s painting, the woman is leaning against a trekking pole, perched in an alpine landscape gazing out across the mountains. There is a sense of determination and accomplishment in her body language and gaze. She is at the top of the world by her own power, in command of, and in union with nature. In HuskMitNavn’s painting, Night at the Museum, 2022, (acrylic on canvas, 165 x 125 cm), the two women coexist a hundred years apart. With this gentle juxtaposition, HuskMitNavn shifts our perception from the modernist masterpiece to the contemporary now. We recognize the feeling of being lost, for good or bad, in thought, or just distracted by the seemingly endless possibilities of having a supercomputer in our hands most of our waking hours. There is no moralizing on our current use of technology in the work, but rather an empathic observation on how we exist today. The painting humorously visualizes the dichotomy between the idealized “us”, in control of our destinies and (human) nature on top of the mountain, and another “us” maybe not quite in control of our impulses and the systems we have created to facilitate control. There is a poetic, curious and humane tone in Night at the Museum, one that flows through the entire exhibition’s nine paintings on canvas and exhilarating forty works in and on paper.
The characters in the works are often in seemingly ordinary situations, portrayed in moments where they exist alone or together without self-awareness. An ironman dad rushes his slightly perplexed child to or from day-care on a super bike in the large painting Fast Forward, 2022, (acrylic on canvas 180 x 180 cm). A loving couple have moved out under a full moon lit starry night sky in the work Sleeping Space, 2022, (acrylic on canvas, 165 x 135 cm). But instead of classic star constellations, jumping dolphins and cats, swallows, sailing ships and UFOs dance across the heavens in imaginative new star formations. The definition of ordinary is in the eye of the beholder. A bikini clad woman takes a dip in the kitchen sink, sipping pineapple juice, summer hat in place, window open, a pensive staycation moment in the eccentric composition of Pool with a View, 2022, (acrylic on canvas 150 x120 cm).
The new series of works on paper continues HuskMitNavn’s playful exploration of the potential of the paper media. Often incorporating the frame as an essential part of the composition; as something to hold on to, play upon, hang on, sit on, destroy, eat, and chop or dance into. Here, paper is cut, ripped, folded, crumbled and bent to emphasize movement, space and action. Creative daily meditations.
HuskMitNavn has developed a distinct tone and iconic visual vocabulary over the past twenty years. A rare open language that invites the viewer to engage intuitively with composition and content. The perils and pleasures of our daily lives are treated equally. The human condition is always at the centre of his practice whether it is painterly or not. HuskMitNavn conveys and embraces the magical in the mundane.
HuskMitNavn (b.1975) lives and works in Copenhagen. He is a multidisciplinary artist creating large-scale installations, extensive works in public, sculpture, works on canvas and paper and beyond, such as various print types, artist multiples and books. HuskMitNavn (RememberMyName) has chosen to remain anonymous throughout his career, preferring the spotlight on his works rather than person. Nevertheless, he has become one of the most recognized and celebrated contemporary Danish artists with more than 200,000 followers around the globe on Instagram. He actively uses the media to promote and instigate creativity. His artist books have been published around the world and his distinct socially conscious practice resonates with a wide audience beyond Danish shores. Recent exhibitions and public commissions include Walk, 2021, Sophienholm Kunsthal, Denmark; Beyond the Streets, 2021, USA; Museum of Copenhagen, 2020, Denmark; Interior, 2020, Geranium, Copenhagen, Denmark; Beyond the Streets, 2019, New York, USA; Travelers, 2019, Copenhagen Airport, Denmark; Draw, 2019, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark; BIG, 2019, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark, and Visitors, 2017, Glyptoteket, Copenhagen, Denmark. The Missing Pieces is HuskMitNavn’s eleventh solo exhibition with Eighteen/V1 Gallery since his first exhibition in 2003.
