Morten
Viskum - The Hand with the golden ring 18 November / 19 December
2010
Private View: Thursday 18 November 2010 (18:30 - 20:30) Artist
Performance
Morten Viskum
The Hand with the golden ring
For more images please click
link
Morten Viskum ' The Hand that never stopped painting 22' Acrylic on MDF,
60 x 60 cm, 1998, Private collection
Morten Viskum ' The Hand that never stopped painting I' Acrylic on MDF,
60 x 60 cm, 1998,AP
The Hand With The
Golden Ring
Curated by Pier Vegner
Tosta
Private View: Thursday 18 November 2010 18:30-20:30 (performance by Morten
Viskum)
Vegas
gallery is very proud to present `The Hand with the Golden Ring ‘the
first solo exhibition in the U.K. of the Norwegian artist Morten
Viskum.
Born in 1965 he is considered one of the most provocative and
controversial contemporary artists from Scandinavia. The artist’s
unconventional choice of materials, themes and artistic expressions
often seduces and invites the viewers to experience a range of
unexpected emotions, causing shock, amazement and uncontrollable
curiosity.
Morten Viskum studied from 1993 to
1997 at the Royal
Academy of Fine Art Oslo in Norway, where he had the opportunity to
study under the British sculptor Michael O´Donnell. The artist’s large
body of work often discloses matters related to Death, Existence and
Religion; for some his works are perceived as forcefully sensational
and
purposely disturbing, for others his unusual approach and materials
choice are the paramount trait of the unbiased artist. Unreservedly
Viskum´s works have the genuine impact and the artistic relevance to be
exposed to the most varied audiences, generating a boundless moment for
debates, reflections and wonderment.
For his
first London solo
exhibition Morten Viskum will expose the paintings from his latest
series ´The Hand with the Golden Ring’. For the delight of the artist´s
fans and causing astonishment for those yet new to his art, the artist
has confirmed to do a live performance during the evening of the
private
view; the thrill is caused by the fact a dead human hand will be used
live as a paintbrush, demonstrating how the new series of paintings
have
been created.
It is not the first time the artist makes use of a
severed human hand as a paintbrush to compose paintings; Viskum
actually
owns several hands, they are not merely tools; the idea of the hand
being linked to an immortalized personality is absolute central to
those
occasions when Viskum paints with it. He gained notoriety in the art
world when back in 1999 he showed at an exhibition in Copenhagen the
very first series painted with a dead hand; ´The Hand that Never
Stopped
Painting`.
Carefully the hand used was placed in a metal box with a
lid and the viewers decided for themselves if they wanted to see it or
not. Over a decade later, the hand is still a strong and a significant
part of his art projects; when painting with them each hand expresses a
different style and the paintings embody a certain personality.
For
this exhibition at Vegas Gallery, Morten Viskum will present his
latest
paintings created with a new hand. A performance by the artists will
take place for those present at the private view, `The Hand with the
Golden Ring ‘will be also be shown. This Hand, unlike the others
evidences an aggregated object, the golden ring suggests vanity and
affluence of the diseased; the golden ring acts as a counterfactual
narrative; the object put contingency back into an obsequy, serving as
a
necessary antidote to traditional deterministic tendencies. The
presence of the ring initiates an obituary and for the viewer it
evidences a sense of the human futile materialism. Who the hands
belonged to initially, is one of Viskum´s well kept secrets.
By this approach the art appear performative, more
as an action, and not as much as an object related material
presence.
By
using one hand from a dead human being as a paintbrush, Viskum draws
the attention towards the work process. One can easily recognize the
patterns caused by the hand´s presence, formed by abrupt lines, applied
vertically in many layers and in many colors, adding a vibrant feeling
of rhythm to the surface of the scintillating painting. These paintings
bring to mind the American Action Painting, an art form where the
painting finds no premeditated composition, depriving itself from a
focal point and defend that the focus on art is rather set on the event
than on object itself.
Impressions and
judgments often change
when
one becomes aware of his background, his oeuvre receives additional
approbation when it is acknowledged that from 1987 to 1993 Morten
Viskum
studied at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science in Oslo before
he
enrolled in Oslo´s academy of art. Viskum is an artist with a
background in Natural Science, by fusing art with sciences a new
context
is framed and one understands immediately the clinical and cold
aesthetic expression, a vehement characteristic found in his works.
Morten
Viskum sees himself primarily as a performance artist, directly aware
of and in communication with the audience; devices like dead animals,
human bones, blood and medically related materials are evident devices
capable to cause shock and disconcertment in a society eager for
novelties and often unable to appreciate one´s sensibility and
imagination. Viskum creates situations where the viewer is invited to
become implicated in the act of forming the realms of contemporary art;
his vision and determination involved him in the amazing project
Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Vestfossem Art Laboratory represents art
of the highest caliber, engaging both the art world and the masses.
Morten
Viskum´s artistic production forges stronger relations between art and
a
society, in the presence of his art one can´t avoid being taken away
from the comfortable zones, his works form catalysts where the morbid
gives space to relevance, the infamy to deference and reminds us that
there is nothing fictitious about Death, neither about Nature. Life is
a
very unstable territory and failing to ponder about it may take us to
alienation.
Morten Viskum lives and work in
Norway. In addition
to
a range of solo shows at international galleries , he has exhibited
at
ME contemporary , Denmark , Nordic Art Triennal, Eskilstuna , Sweden ,
Drammen Museum, Norway, Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde and recently
had a solo exhibition at Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand,
Norway.