Tiina Elina Nurminen
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Ann Sophie Stærk
Projectroom
"New Paintings"
Stalke Galleri
Vesterbrogade 184
23.05.03 to 28.06.03
Stalke Galleri was pleased to announce an exhibition featuring works by Tiina Elina Nurminen and the project Identity is a faraway dream, you can buy tomorrow, paintings by Ann Sophie Stærk.
This was the second time Stalke Galleri presented the Finnish painter Tiina Elina Nurminen, who earlier that year had participated in the group exhibition Stop for a moment – painting as presence at the ARKEN Museum of Modern Art. At first glance, Nurminen’s paintings appeared as continuations of an abstract tradition in which the characteristics of the medium—the working of the surface and the qualities of color—were central. They created a distinct visual and sensuous presence. With prolonged viewing, however, fragments or suggestions of figuration emerged. The abstraction revealed additional potentials beyond formal self-referentiality, possibly even a narrative dimension. This potential was never fully resolved but remained indefinite yet concise, akin to memories, associations, emotions, or impressions—states of mind, one might say. In this way, the surface became charged with something intangible, an abstraction of a psychological nature that grew more insistent the longer one looked. Nurminen’s paintings explored this second abstraction as their condition.
In the project room, Stalke Galleri presented a series of paintings by Ann Sophie Stærk, who the previous year had participated in two well-received exhibitions: Quirky Girls at Horsens Art Museum and ALIBI – Alle lever i byens igloer (Everyone Lives in the City’s Igloos)at The Free Exhibition Space. The title of Stærk’s project, Identity is a faraway dream, you can buy tomorrow, reflected her merging of existential reflections with the logic of consumer culture. Titles were a vital element in her works. Her paintings offered suggestive commentary on the picture plane, where a mix of traditional or everyday motifs and lightly psychedelic, pop-colored patterns caught the eye. They created an ironic, bittersweet distance between what was seen and what was said, pointing toward a deeper connection between a dreamlike universe and reality—between the media-driven world of possibilities and a personally experienced reality. In this way, Stærk’s paintings asked whether the perfect lifestyle truly was the perfect life.
Works by Tiina Elina Nurminen at Stalke Galleri, Vesterbrogade, Copenhagen
In a review published in Politiken in June 2003, art critic Trine Ross wrote about Tiina Elina Nurminen’s painting in connection with the exhibition at Stalke Galleri. She described Nurminen’s works as sensuous and physically present, emphasizing the tension between their seemingly abstract expression and the more bodily and associative elements that emerged upon closer viewing.
The review highlighted the materiality, energy, and use of color in the paintings, as well as their ability to create an immediate, almost appetizing attraction. At the same time, Trine Ross pointed out how the works balanced the poetic and the raw, giving the impression of extending beyond the picture plane and functioning spatially rather than merely as traditional paintings.
Overall, Nurminen’s practice was presented in the review as a strong and promising contribution to contemporary painting, characterized by a pronounced bodily and sensorial dimension.
Ann Sofie Stærk
Project room
Installation view, Ann Sofie Stærk in the project room at Stalke Galleri, Vesterbrogade, Copenhagen.
Ann Sophie Stærk, At Stalke Galleri