Review

Home Sweet Home

At Stalke Gallery, Anja Franke and Marianne Hesselbjerg each present their own exhibition, yet with a certain overlap in theme — namely, the intimate and private.

Franke works under the title The Contemplative Home, using her own home, but also referencing the personal and private aspects of domesticity. A series of plant drawings across the room’s possible arrangements and furniture resemble minimalist paintings, while also illustrating how the design of interiors and objects are interconnected. Should the stove really be placed next to the fridge? Should the food shelf be in the refrigerator? Through her artistic vision of home, she invites us to consider this, showing a tapestry where the repeated pattern of a curtain hook, used as a design element, creates a kaleidoscopic, shimmering flow. In a separate piece, she combines a kitchen and a bathtub into a slightly eerie mutant.

Stalke’s angular and winding gallery space fits the exhibition’s exploration of the home’s many levels perfectly, and Franke complements this by playing into Marianne Hesselbjerg’s exhibition, World’s Navels.

Franke’s works reference home, while Hesselbjerg’s pieces, though not directly tied to domesticity, still resonate with its dimensions. Her bronzed navels rise like small monuments; they stand on tables and chairs. Hesselbjerg’s sculptures are rooted in a tradition of modernist abstraction, yet at the same time threaten to dissolve that language through their simple yet constructive structure.

Anja Franke and Marianne Hesselbjerg, Stalke Gallery, Vesterbrogade 14A, basement, Copenhagen. Until June 26.