Tove Stoch: Slumping, Gammel Strand
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Tove Storch
SlumpingFebruary 2 – May 20, 2024
Gammel strand, Copenhagen, DKIn her eccentric and densely sensuous sculptures, Tove Storch investigates the interaction between material and motif. Oscillating between the everyday and the alien, the five new works created specifically for this exhibition range from small experiments to large-scale productions.
Fuelled by an intimate knowledge of the materials chosen, these works allow the contours of something figurative to emerge: a bed, the bottom of a ship, a spider-like creature. Unpredictable and ambiguous, the works let their subjects make themselves known even as they simultaneously threaten to disappear into the realm of abstraction.
As an artist, Storch is keenly interested in the limits and capabilities of materials. In some works she investigates the elasticity of silk, in others she portrays strong, rough metal as something pliable and limp. Treated with tenderness and precision, the materials reveal unknown aspects of themselves, their immediately apparent qualities receding in the articulation of something new and unexpected.Tove Storch often works with silk and metal, and her mode of expression is posited between the strictly formal and something directly connected to the body and the emotions. Specifically, Storch often offsets tension and slackness in her study of different positions of strength: Can silk break down metal? How does the liquid shape the solid? What effect does time have on form? Through their colours, subject matter and attitudes, the works weave themselves into archetypal narratives about gender, romance and sexuality while also wrestling themselves loose from preconceived readings with quiet grace.
‘Slumping’ denotes an artisanal method as well as the usual associations of exhaustion and laziness attached to the word. Slumping is a specific technique within glass making, where glass is slowly heated and settles into a mould. Whereas blown glass is controlled directly by the human craftsperson, slumped glass is shaped by heat, weight and gravity. Thus, slumping is reminiscent of Tove Storch’s own artistic process: she strives to support, augment and enhance the inherent properties of her chosen materials rather than to shape them in a traditional artistic way.Gammel Strand
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