Group Show

Tiina Elina Nurminen, Per Bak Jensen and Ian Schjals, Suzette Gemzøe

Stalke Galleri

17.11 to 20.12.1999

Press Release

Stalke Gallery is showing new works from November 17th to December 20th, 2000.

• New works by:
  • Per Bak Jensen (DK)
  • Suzette Gemzøe (DK)
  • Tiina Elina Nurminen (Fin)
  • Ian Schjals (DK)

In the exhibition, Per Bak Jensen presents new works under the collective title "Approaches."
Per Bak Jensen showcases works in this exhibition that, through their material choices, take their starting point in a new and divergent form. Additionally, he presents a selection of his new photographic works, which are part of the overall image installation.

Suzette Gemzøe exhibits new paper works in this exhibition—pieces that extend the themes of previous motifs, where circles, openings, birth, entry, and departure are explored. These themes are treated in an investigative circular movement that appears to seek out or dissolve something foreign, while maintaining a present sense of experience.

Tiina Nurminen, born in 1967 in Finland, graduated from the Academy in Helsinki and continued her studies from 1995–1997 at Städelschule in Frankfurt under Per Kirkeby.
Tiina Nurminen works with oil/acrylic paintings that balance the tension between a loosely illustrated figuration with exemplary body fragments and a dense, physically concentrated abstract surface. Nurminen uses soft tones and, in interplay with the suggested figurations, achieves something both simple and emotionally expressive.
Tiina Nurminen has also participated in a major exhibition at Basel Kunsthalle (Foyer des Stadtkinos).

Ian Schjals continues to work with the foundation itself (originality), the foundation as the visible manifestation, and the fluid nothingness, "-ness"; a unique form of names that continuously interact with the foundation and its layers (layers); organic continuities, where the material dissolves, dries, and binds itself, dissolves, etc., until the material reorients and achieves clarity—the purposeless form. Ian Schjals speaks about the innocence of the material.

The exhibition will be open until December 20th.

Stalke Galleri

Reviews:

Four in One

At Stalke, you can currently meet four of the gallery's artists, each with their own small exhibition. Right by the door are Per Bak Jensen's large color photographs, which immediately catch the eye. In the small series of photographs, taken in a seemingly desolate zoological garden, the focus is on detail—in every case with an impressive clarity. Other works in the series present panoramic views of flat, vast landscapes. In both the new images, you notice an otherwise overlooked beauty, but at the same time, they also unfold more unsettling perspectives around the staging of nature and the fate of animals in the human system.

"Occurrences" is the shared title for images and three wooden objects hanging on the opposite wall. However, where the photographs present both visual and conceptual complexity, the objects are entirely one-dimensional in their expression and are therefore far less interesting.

In the room opposite, Suzette Gemzøe is exhibiting three abstract pastel drawings in red hues, which revolve around the circle shape in dynamic movements. One gets the feeling of a space or, rather, a transition. The drawings are effectively arranged in a tight structure, playing well together with their consciously new expression. Moreover, they emphasize subtle similarities and differences between the individual works.

Although the four artists' works in the exhibition don’t immediately have much to say to one another, a dialogue still emerges between Gemzøe's works and Finnish artist Tiina Nurminen's paintings. These are simultaneously expressive and formal, well-considered, kitschy, and pathetic, figurative, and abstract. Their strength lies in an ironic duality capable of carrying an otherwise heavy seriousness. A similar recognition of Gemzøe can also be found in Nurminen’s highly pastel-laden layers of paint, which harmonize well with the works of the exhibition's fourth artist, painter Ian Schjals' abstract, crackled canvases.

New works by: Per Bak Jensen, Suzette Gemzøe, Tiina Elina Nurminen, and Ian Schjals.

All Four Things at Once

Photo, Drawing, and Painting at Stalke Gallery

At Stalke Gallery, an exhibition has opened, which is best described as diverse. It features four different artists who, with their respective works, are tied together by a shared theme. And yet, each artist has created their own space within the exhibition.

Per Bak Jensen shows this time a small series of large photographs. It’s hard to avoid being drawn into his imagery. His images have become more inward-looking and often convey an emotional atmosphere. A recurring theme in his work is desolation, and in this series, there are photos of, among other things, an abandoned zoo and a flat rural landscape. The images contain a subtle critique of the ways in which humans attempt to control nature, such as animals that have been forced into unsuitable surroundings.

Suzette Gemzøe is a young Danish artist working with various media, including video. In this exhibition, she shows three drawings revolving around movement and transitions. She uses circular forms to symbolize cycles of life, birth, and entry into spaces with no exit. These works, paired with the imagery, tell a mechanical story about the traces of a lived life.

Tiina Nurminen, a Finnish artist born in 1967, has previously lived in Denmark. She studied in Finland and later in Frankfurt, where she taught at an art school. Nurminen works with oil and acrylic on canvas. She balances figurative and abstract elements in a poetic and reflective way.

The Danish painter Ian Schjals, known to the gallery, also exhibits new works here. His paintings express a strong, philosophical seriousness based on the colors of nature.

With these four exhibitions, Stalke presents works with something for every taste.

By Mai Misfeldt