William Anthony

Stalke Galleri was proud, for the third time, to present a major exhibition featuring new works by the American artist William Anthony.

Since the mid-1960s, William Anthony’s bizarre line-drawing universe had achieved cult status among prominent figures such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein (according to Warhol himself, Anthony’s illustration of the Bible was the only Bible Warhol could understand). It was easy to see why. His satirical depictions of human folly, war, mythology from the Wild West, and humorous “copies” of modernist masterpieces possessed an unmistakable surreal charm. The iconography appeared clearly legible and distinctly pop, yet it also operated on a subconscious level—as a kind of sub-pop art—functioning as a machine that distorted and reshaped images.

The exhibition also included several works created in collaboration between William Anthony and the Danish artist Anne Bennike.

Link to a Memory

The Icelandic artist Gunnar Örn had been associated with the gallery since the mid-1990s and presented a wall installation titled Link to a Memoryat this exhibition. Gunnar Örn, who had recently turned 60, had developed a painting practice that moved in many directions, ranging from inner psychological landscapes reflecting echoes of the mind to works directly inspired by Icelandic nature.

Previously, Gunnar Örn had exhibited his own works as part of the curated exhibition Iceland in Denmarkin 2003 in Kirke Sonnerup, where artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Gudmundur Ingolfsson, Ragnar Kjartansson, among others, also participated.

Installation views from Gunnar Örn: “A Memory”, Back Gallery, Stalke Galleri, 2007.

review by Rita Vestergaard (Dagbladet, August 16, 2007)

In her review for Dagbladet, journalist Rita Vestergaarddescribed the exhibition at Stalke Galleri, Kirke Sonnerup, as an encounter between an established cult figure and a contemporary artistic position, presented side by side. The exhibition brought together works by the American artist William Anthony and the Icelandic artist Gunnar Örn, curated by Sam Jedig.

Vestergaard highlighted William Anthony as a distinctive and influential figure whose idiosyncratic drawings had achieved cult status since the 1960s, admired by artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. His works combined satire, pop-cultural references, and a sharp sense of humor, often drawing on Western mythology, war imagery, and art history. According to the article, Anthony’s practice balanced pop and subversive elements, creating images that were both immediately accessible and psychologically complex.

Gunnar Örn’s installation, Link to a Memory, was presented as a wall-based work combining painting, sketches, and photography. Vestergaard emphasized how Örn’s practice drew strongly on personal experience and Icelandic nature, transforming photographic impressions into painterly and reflective compositions. His work was described as moving between documentation and memory, capturing both landscape and inner states.

The article also noted Sam Jedig’s long-standing relationship with Gunnar Örn and his role in introducing Icelandic artists to Danish audiences. The exhibition was framed as a thoughtful juxtaposition of two different artistic generations and sensibilities, united by a shared interest in imagery, memory, and cultural reflection.

Overall, Vestergaard characterized the exhibition as both visually engaging and conceptually layered, offering audiences an opportunity to experience contrasts between pop-inflected satire and introspective, nature-inspired expression within the intimate setting of Stalke Galleri.

Summary based on the article by Rita Vestergaard, Dagbladet (2007)

The Installation

Installation views from William Anthony exhibition at Stalke Galleri, drawings and paintings 

Stalke Galleri exhibition archive from 1987