PRESS RELEASE

Morten Nilsson

Dancers

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Kristian Devantier (Project Room)

Paper works

It is with great pleasure that Stalke Gallery opens an exhibition of photographs by Morten Nilsson and, in the Project Room, Kristian Devantier.

The young Danish photographer Morten Nilsson is showing his series Dancers, a fascinating portrait series of ballroom dancers. The photographs capture the dancers in an intense combination of affectation and revelation. Nilsson has photographed the dancers immediately after having competed, sweating and out of breath, but still with their assumed expressions and postures. Their hair shines with pomade, their faces are covered with a thick layer of make-up, and their wide-open yet empty eyes are still lit up by the effort and concentration. They are still in their roles as flawless performers, but their natural faces can be made out under the make-up.

Many of the dancers have barely reached puberty, but they are dressed up as adults in glittering dresses and tight suits. They are at the moment of passage between childhood and adulthood, in low-cut dresses revealing flat bosoms, and without much more than a light shade on their upper lips. The insecurity of youth is apparent in their faces and bodies, despite the make-up and the costumes. Nilsson has captured their strength and their weakness; he represents the mask while hinting at what is hidden behind it.

This contrast between the natural and the unnatural also characterizes the way Morten Nilsson works as a photographer: clearly premeditated, but at the same time very immediate. He hasn’t manipulated the pictures; he has chosen whatever wall was on location as his background, and there is no other source of lighting than his bright flash. Nilsson’s portraits of these dancers go extremely close, but are also quite distanced. The dancers almost appear to be mannequins or wax models. These are stills and close-ups of a world that is meant to be seen in movement and at a distance. With his series Dancers, Morten Nilsson has portrayed a world that revels in mannerisms and stylizations, exaggerating a glamour that is closer to Las Vegas than to Hollywood, closer to kitsch than to culture.

Concurrent with his exhibition at Stalke, the edition will be shown in New York and Rotterdam.

In the Project Room, Kristian Devantier exhibits new works on paper. Here he pursues his seemingly naïve representations. However, Devantier’s subtle titles make it clear that his works express existentialist reflections on the human existence, poetically expressed in the delicate and intimate medium that paper constitutes.

Review

"Small Stars"

"Disco queens and gentlemen in puberty. The Danish photographer Morten Nilsson paints a raw portrait of the small stars of ballroom dancing in the exhibition 'Dancers,' which has just opened at Stalke Gallery."

PHOTOGRAPHY
By Pernille Anker Kristensen

The young Danish photographer Morten Nilsson is a regular guest at standard dance competitions. Over the past two years, he has traveled around sports halls across the country and photographed the small stars of ballroom dancing.

It is primarily the teenage dancers who capture the photographer's lens. But stepping away from cheering parents on the sidelines, the ambitious parents of Morten Nilsson’s subjects come into focus in a different light. After the competition, the dance-loving juniors pose for raw portraits, exposing cracks beneath the surface. The result can be seen in the exhibition "Dancers" at Stalke Gallery.

An art collector has recently invested in one of Morten Nilsson’s dance portraits as we visit the gallery for the exhibition’s opening. He laments that he has been “bitten by the bug” and is always tempted to buy more.

The artist himself, sitting shyly with his coffee cup while putting up pictures, says: “The dance is about the perfect gentleman and the perfect princess. It’s a game of learning how to grow up. It has to be very proper, yet you can see the cracks between the teenagers' long arms and the way they carry themselves,” explains Morten Nilsson.

Peach Fuzz on the Upper Lip

Most of the dancers are in puberty and pose as small adults in glitter costumes and tuxedos. With lipstick in one hand and a teddy bear in the other, they balance on the line between childhood and adulthood. The girls’ dresses are cut low on their flat chests, while the young gentlemen rarely have more than a bit of peach fuzz on their upper lips.

“I wanted to avoid portraying dance as a sport. The pictures are small studies in how you stand next to someone. How two boys stand together when they are close. Or how you hold a girl’s hand when you’re 14 years old,” asks Morten Nilsson.

The contrast between the natural and the unnatural is central to Morten Nilsson’s photography. Even though the children clearly pose, the images are never manipulated. No special effects or gimmicks are involved. Red, teary eyes are welcome, as are the raw walls of sports halls, which always form the background.

“I went to dance venues that had good existing backdrops. I didn’t want it to look like a studio. I was afraid it would become too polished. Both during and between competitions, I found existing backgrounds in the hall, which were beautiful, and placed the dancers in front of them. I wanted to create portraits that were as simple as possible in both lighting and background. And through that, I still try to capture what it feels like to be alive.”

Old-Fashioned

Stylistically, the pictures resemble old-fashioned portraits:
“I draw a lot of inspiration from photography that is 50 years old. One of my inspirations is the photographer August Sander. I wanted to create old-fashioned portraits. I’m not interested in ornate photography. Things should be allowed to stand for themselves from all possible angles,” explains Morten Nilsson selected the most natural models.

"In the selection process, I tried to find dancers who were not overly theatrical, but more like young people. I like it when there’s a vulnerability in their faces, and when there’s a person behind the image. When the pictures are this simple, there has to be an entrance or an element that holds your gaze for a longer time. It’s always risky when people wear a lot of makeup, or when layers are added on top of each other. Sometimes, if you look at pictures of drag queens, it can be exciting and dramatic. But it becomes dull if there’s nothing extra in the image. Then it’s just a varnish.”

Internationally Known

The exhibition at Stalke is Morten Nilsson’s first in Denmark. But internationally, people have already taken notice of the Danish talent. Currently, the "Dancers" exhibition is featured in galleries in both New York and Rotterdam.

Some of the dance portraits also quickly landed on the cover of the new British magazine Photoworks, while internationally renowned names like Gerhard Richter and Bill Brandt appear inside its pages.

Originally, Morten Nilsson from Virum trained as a press photographer and has worked as a freelance photographer for companies and trade magazines. But on February 1, he starts as a manager at the photo school Fatamorgana, so he can let go of commercial photography and devote himself one hundred percent to art.

Unreal Decadence

Gallery owner Kim Bendixsen explains that he had a personal reason for inviting Morten Nilsson: “When I see Morten Nilsson’s pictures, I think of my own brother, Peter Bo Bendixsen, who is a ballet dancer at the Royal Danish Theatre. The pictures show the staged person or the loss of childhood innocence. But the young ballroom dancers are an extreme version of ballet. Especially the very young ones are extreme because the decadence becomes completely unreal.”

Kim Bendixsen emphasizes that Morten Nilsson’s pictures are also about the audience: “The young boys don’t look like 11-year-olds who have lived a normal life. They are prototypes of their parents’ dreams. But the most interesting thing is that the judge, who is always the viewer, is nervously busy thinking: Have you seen, have they done it? But they also point in the other direction. When you stage yourself as a gallery owner or a butcher, aren’t we all staged? It’s about the dreams we all have. That we will one day become something. Everyone wants a restaurant at some point in their life. But many remain bus drivers their entire lives.”

At the same time as Morten Nilsson’s exhibition, the Danish artist Kristian Devantier is presenting new framed paper works in the Project Room.

Pernille Anker Kristensen

JP 15.1.2005