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Michael Kvium
Painter's Nest, May 23 - July 12, 2014

Michael Kvium: Painter's Nest

Past exhibition
  • Exhibition text
  • Installation views
  • Works
  • Artist Biography

  • Michael Kvium
    Painter's Nest

    May 23 – Juli 12, 2014
    Ny Carlsberg vej 68, Copenhagen

    We are delighted to announce the exhibition Painter’s Nest by Michael Kvium. The show consists of all new paintings and it is Kvium’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.

     

    Staging is essential to the art of Michael Kvium. This approach has been employed and refined in different expressions such as performances, video installations, paintings, and sculptures and the performative aspect is a recurrent artifice throughout his entire career.

     

    The staging and the performativity are once more the focal points in the exhibition Painter’s Nest. The characters, or rather the performers, in the paintings depict different representations of a painter. The role of the artist is examined in various stagings and often the representation of the artist appears to reflect the beholder’s own imagination of an artist. This matter develops in different attributes of the portrayed painters – features that all relate to the metier of a painter: a brush, a tube of paint, a painting cloth etc.

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    In his artistic practice, Kvium consciously engages with themes and genres from the history of art. This time, the investigation of the artist’s studio (or nest) is central – a well-known genre brought up by many artists such as Rembrandt, Diego Velázquez, Jan Vermeer, and Gustave Courbet. In contrast to his predecessors, Kvium is not depicting an idealized and romantic image of an artist but rather he is interested in a humanized painter.

     

    The show reveals what hides under the make-up, behind the mask and the scene. And this is not always pretty! The paintings present unhealthy, grotesque, and deformed bodies that most of all resembles simple flesh. Painter’s Nest uncovers to the audience an exposed painter in his studio.

     

    Michael Kvium (1955) lives and works in Denmark and Spain.

  • Installation views
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  • Works
    • Michael Kvium Natural Tint, 2013 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      Natural Tint, 2013
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium Red, 2013 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      Red, 2013
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium November Painting, 2013 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      November Painting, 2013
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium The Cloth, 2014 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      The Cloth, 2014
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium The Mask, 2013 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      The Mask, 2013
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium The Cloth, 2014 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      The Cloth, 2014
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium Simple Act, 2014 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      Simple Act, 2014
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium La Vida Dura I, 2014 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      La Vida Dura I, 2014
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium La Vida Dura III, 2014 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      La Vida Dura III, 2014
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium Simple Tale, 2014 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      Simple Tale, 2014
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium Bloody Temptation, 2014 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      Bloody Temptation, 2014
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium One of Those Days, Days, 2014 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      One of Those Days, Days, 2014
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium Interrupted Skypiece I, 2012 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      Interrupted Skypiece I, 2012
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium The Cloth, 2014 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      The Cloth, 2014
      Oil on canvas
    • Michael Kvium Interrupted Skypiece II, 2012 Oil on canvas
      Michael Kvium
      Interrupted Skypiece II, 2012
      Oil on canvas
  • Artist Biography
  • Michael Kvium Born in Horsens, DK, 1955 Lives and works in Copenhagen, DK Michael Kvium portrays the follies of humankind....
    Photo: Anders Sune Berg

    Michael Kvium

    Born in Horsens, DK, 1955
    Lives and works in Copenhagen, DK

     

    Michael Kvium portrays the follies of humankind. For almost half a century, his artistic exploration of the suppressed aspects of humanity, has led him across a wide array of artistic mediums. Creating images resonant with theatrical qualities, rooted in his early engagement with performance art in the 80s. Kvium’s paintings are like scenes of a play engaging in grandiose or gloomy emotions, while posing critical questions about morality, idiocies, and the rise and fall of Western civilization. The works are an invitation to the viewer, to engage in reflective introspection, to share the stage and ponder. 

     

    In 2017 Kvium presented his largest exhibition to date, Circus Europa, a giant total installation first presented at ARKEN (DK) and later traveled to Kunsthal Rotterdam. The show fused painting, sculpture, film and installation in a kaleidoscopic vision exploring the state of the world. Kvium’s work has also been the center of various solo exhibitions including SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen; ARoS – Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus; Kunsten – Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg; Horsens Art Museum, Horsens; The Today Art Museum, Beijing; Shenzhen Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen; and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.

     

    Download artist's CV

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