Artsy

Current Exhibitions

23 February 2024

How Good is a Smile by Saxon Quinn

Saxon Quinn (AU)
How Good is a Smile
FEBRUARY 23

Galleri Christoffer Egelund proudly presents How Good is a Smile, the first solo show in Denmark by Australian artist Saxon Quinn whose abstract works contain references to childhood, consumerism and the evolution of art. The exhibition, which consists of entirely new paintings on canvas and sculptures, can be seen at Bredgade 75 in Copenhagen from the 23rd of April until the 22nd of March 2024.

Saxon Quinn’s paintings astonish the viewer with their innovative combination of the abstract and the figurative, the quiet and the bold. These are paintings that grapple with the complicated heritage of Modernism.

They are reminiscent of some of the very first forays into abstract art by artists like Joan Miró and Vasilij Kandinsky with their bright primary colors popping off a neutral background, yet they also include inspirations from 1950s and 1960s High Modernism such as the rough textures of Jackson Pollock and Antoni Tàpiez.

Like the works of these pioneers of abstract art, Saxon Quinn’s paintings are carefully balanced, with great attention to the graphical composition of the elements on the picture plane. The sometimes-childlike lines and symbols like stars, rainbows and kites bring to mind a famous quote by one of the primary trailblazers of abstract art, Picasso: “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

But it doesn’t take long to notice that Saxon’s works are not just the formal experiments of Modernism. Symbols of consumerism like the famous Nike checkmark and references to street culture mix with the Modernist brushstrokes. Fast cars, racing flags, basketballs, fashionable shoes and laughing faces intermingle. Are they laughing because they are having a good time or are they laughing menacingly? As Saxon Quinn himself says: “An authentic smile can be so hard at times, yet simple and easy at others. They can mean nothing and yet mean everything. When real, they can be powerful, warming, calming, reassuring, loving, joyful and healing.” At the core of the Modernist world view is the unrelenting search for a pure formal art of graphical two-dimensional visuality that existed in a realm apart from the dreariness of everyday life and the physical world. But over time, this at the time avant-garde artistic expression has fostered some of the most expensive paintings sold, and thus, it has become a part of the capitalistic circulation of status symbols – just like the newest Nike designer sneakers and the cars we dream about. Thus, Saxon Quinn presents us with the aspirational idealism that often characterizes an artistic idea when it is first conceived and juxtaposes it with the symbol for the symbol’s sake that it is in danger of becoming.     

Another remarkable feature of Saxon’s works is his way of continuing the painting onto the frame. In previous centuries, the frame was an elaborate work of art in itself, one that you proudly let accent your priced possession in order to underline its worth. But over the course of the 20th century, the frame disappeared – the grand work of art was to be experienced in a pure, self-contained form, free from outside distractions. Even though his art is reminiscent of the art of the 20th century, Saxon Quinn breaks the tradition of the self-contained work of art, instead letting the work overflow and continue onto the frame. Instead of something that is closed off to the world, the work and its abundant energy become something that cannot be contained.

Saxon Quinn (b. 1986 in Victoria, Australia) is one of his country’s most promising up and coming young artists. He has exhibited at galleries across the world in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Sydney, Berlin, London and Copenhagen and has participated in art fairs in Sydney, Seoul, Taiwan and Madrid. 

Join us at the exhibition opening at Bredgade 75 on the 23rd of February 2024 from 16:00 to 19:00. For further information and sales requests, please contact the gallery at: hello@christofferegelund.dk or at +45 33 93 92 00. Visit us at Bredgade 75, DK-1260 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Opening hours: Wednesday-Friday 15:00-18:00, Saturday 12:00-16:00, or by appointment.

23 February 2024

Jeg er den eneste der husker det nu by Michael á Grømma

Michael á Grømma (DK)
Jeg er den eneste der husker det nu
FEBRUARY 23

Galleri Christoffer Egelund proudly presents Jeg er den eneste der husker det nu (I’m the Only One Who Remembers Now), the artist’s first solo show at the gallery. Michael á Grømma combines vivid colors with rich detail in his deeply meaningful interior paintings. The exhibition, which consists of entirely new paintings on canvas and board and a site-specific installation, can be seen at Bredgade 75 in Copenhagen from the 23rd of April until the 22nd of March 2024.

When you look at a work of art by Michael á Grømma, you are immediately greeted by the colors: Bright, happy colors, pinks, greens, yellows, red and turquoise. These are colors that could also belong in a children’s book, but yet, they have a certain Copenhagen coolness to them that makes you think of fashionable retro décor and the color palette of the Danish artist Tal R. Here, colorful crochet plaids with granny squares mix with cartoons and vinyl covers from the 80s, lush plants and colorful classic furniture.

The style, too, is reminiscent of something warm and homely. This is a space free of straight lines made with a ruler, there is no linear perspective that subjects the space to predictable, calculated mathematical laws. Instead, what we see here is an intuitive and inclusive space where the immediate experience of the objects takes center stage. Just like Cézanne, for whom it was imperative to depict space in the way we know it from our everyday sensory experience instead of letting excess reliance on mathematical rules determine the artistic outcome, Michael á Grømma lets us step into a personal and deeply meaningful space.

His space is a human space, in which each object has an important role to play. Every detail is rendered with loving care – every pattern, every book title and every movie poster is depicted in a way that leaves no doubt as to what it is. As the title of the exhibition suggests, the art of Michael á Grømma has a darker meaning hidden away beneath its colorful surface. Michael and his family suffered the unspeakable tragedy of having to say goodbye to several family members within a short period of time. The gravity of life reared its ugly head. Serious literature joined the cartoons on his shelves, and his walls now became home to both posters and one-of-a-kind paintings. Thus, the cardboard moving box becomes a central symbol in á Grømma’s art – it is the container of the story of your life. When all you have left of a loved one is his or her possessions, these take on tremendous meaning – when something breaks, is worn out or thrown out, it is as if yet another piece of that person is irrevocably lost.

The objects in our lives hold immense power. No matter whether you are recently divorced, have moved away from home or have lost contact to a formerly dear friend, objects are carriers of memories and a little bit of the soul of the person or persons that you bought them with, who gave them to you or who you made memories around them with. Michael á Grømma’s art reminds us just how important it is to guard and cherish the objects, and not least the people, that are important to us, for neither objects nor people are forever. 

Michael á Grømma (f. 1983) is among Denmark’s most promising up-and-coming artists. He is educated as a multimedia designer and works with both acrylic on canvas and lino print. His works have been exhibited at galleries and art fairs across Denmark and in Germany and The Netherlands since 2008, and his works are already to be found in several professional art collections.

Join us at the exhibition opening and meet the artist at Bredgade 75 on the 23rd of February 2024 from 16:00 to 19:00. For further information and sales requests, please contact the gallery at: hello@christofferegelund.dk or at +45 33 93 92 00. Visit us at Bredgade 75, DK-1260 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Opening hours: Wednesday-Friday 15:00-18:00, Saturday 12:00-16:00, or by appointment.

Upcoming Exhibitions