Andreas Meinich @ Nevven Gallery, Gothenburg - "Gapahuk" Exhibition

Andreas Meinich: Gapahuk

Nevven Gallery, Gothenburg

November 23, 2023 — February 11, 2024

Andreas Meinich 

Finnskogajätten, 2023 

Digitally woven cotton and polyester, wood pole, 

edition 3/3 + 2 AP, 300 x 200 cm

© Andreas Meinich

Andreas Meinich 

Bastuknappen, 2023 

Digitally woven cotton and polyester, wood pole, 

edition 3/3 + 2 AP, 200 x 150 cm

© Andreas Meinich

Andreas Meinich

Ortnevik II (detail), 2023 

Digitally woven cotton and polyester, wood pole, 

edition 3/3 + 2 AP, 200 x 150 cm

© Andreas Meinich

Andreas Meinich Artist Portrait 

© Photo by Magnus Nordstrand

Text by Mattia Lullini

Kaihōgyō is an ancient ascetic practice used to be performed by Tendai Buddhist monks. Thought to have been initiated by Sōō Kashō in X Century Japan, the liturgy consisted in using hiking and running in the mountains as a form of meditation and path to illumination. Complexly structured, this observance took 1000 days to perform, in which the monks were supposed to cover by foot an average of 40 to 80 km per day.(1) In our fast paced yet mostly sedentary lives, endurance sports, and specially the ones involving long distances, like ultra running, through hiking or bikepacking have come back into fashion. While they are considered beneficial for physical health, an aspect mostly undervalued of these repetitive and slow paced, long lasting activities has been their capacity to become meditative and insightful experiences. There, like in the case of Japanese monks, is where the process behind Andreas Meinich’s art becomes relevant also if considered by itself and not only as a means to an end. The Norwegian photographer leaves every Summer for long bikepacking tours of Norway and sometimes Scandinavia at large. He follows some of the old traditional routes, but also ventures into less travelled regions, valleys and fjords, spending weeks at a time biking all day, sleeping in nature and taking photographs. It is in this routine of long miles and frugal living that his art originates.(2)

The subjects of Meinich’s photography then are not exactly what one would expect from such an experience, or maybe even more so, they are too much of what one would expect. Filled with splendid views, towering folk sculptures and local minor attractions, the valleys of Norway teem with grotesque, clumsy or often unexpectedly monumental sights. They might be self-built stave churches (Ortnevik II, 2023), anthropomorphic rock formations (Ombomannen, 2023) or goofy sculptures found outside of saunas in the woods (Bastuknappen, 2023). They are exactly what each one of us, or any tourist, would snap a picture of as a memory, or, with more than just a pinch of irony, a funny Instagram story. The difference is that in Meinich’s photographs these images are presented to us neutrally and with no commentary, setting in motion a different kind of operation. The feeling is that by portraying these hidden and often remote sights, by bringing these idiosyncratic monuments out of their isolation and context, the Norwegian artist is presenting us with a unique depiction of his own country. Ridiculous, bizarre, serious, the subjects of his pictures are spontaneous folk expressions, they channel religious feelings, bigotry, profanity and tradition in equal parts, being honest to themselves and unfiltered. Could these photographs then be considered as a visual essay on Norwegian contemporary folklore? Meinich’s travels bring to mind the legendary accomplishment of Asbjørnsen and Moe and their famous collection of fairy tales Norske Folkeeventyr. Considered still a uniquely important record of traditional folk tales and songs, this collection of stories was the result of extensive travels by the two authors through the most remote parts of 1800s Norway, noting down ancient stories and rhymes transmitted orally only.(3) Seemingly, this is very similar to what Meinich is doing every Summer, only taking outdoor culture in place of oral culture, turning tales into photographs, then translating them again into digitally woven textiles. An operation, this last one, which is not neutral and also materially reminds of his most common subjects, both in monumentality and humour. With the aspect of antique tapestries, and the contrast coming natural to mind between the aristocratic past one would associate them with and the simplicity of their subjects, they themselves could have been considered folk art, tourist’s souvenirs, or an indoor continuation of the outdoor expressions they depict. These grand, beautiful objects that tell us about little things hidden in the vast woods of Norway, take physically the exhibition space with their tactility and their stories, which ironically or not, narrate a land in front of our eyes and yet hidden to most.

Mattia Lullini

(1) For more information: John Stevens, The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei (1988).

(2) From this activity derives the title of the exhibition: “The Norwegian word gapahuk means a simple shelter made out of wood. There are a lot of gapahuk in the rural part of Norway where I travel by bike and find the motifs for my weaves, and I often find myself using them for shelter on my trips.” (As described to us by the artist).

(3) Peter Christian Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1844).

ANDREAS MEINICH was born in 1985, Stavanger, Norway. He lives and works in Oslo. The artist obtained a BA in Visual Communication at Oslo National Academy of the Arts (2008-2011).

NEVVEN GALLERY

Molinsgatan 11, 411 33 Göteborg

nevvengallery.com

Pablo Picasso & Marcel Duchamp, Moderna Museet, Stockholm - Picasso/Duchamp “He was wrong”

Picasso/Duchamp “He was wrong”  

Moderna Museet, Stockholm 

25 August, 2012 – 3 March, 2013 

With the exhibition Picasso/Duchamp “He Was Wrong”; the Moderna Museet in Stockholm sets two giants, Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, up against each other for the first time. They are often regarded as the two most influential artists of the 20th century – Picasso, who personified the modernist painter, and Duchamp, the indifferent ironist and chess genius, who challenged painting and transformed art into a maze of intellectual amusements. Now, visitors to the Moderna Museet have a unique opportunity to witness this battle of giants and see where it leads.

They may appear incompatible when contrasting the purpose of painting, and the eye versus the mind:

“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.” – Pablo Picasso

“I was interested in ideas, not in visual products. I wanted to put painting again in the service of the mind.” – Marcel Duchamp

Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp are often seen as contraries. And admittedly, although they were often in each other’s immediate surroundings and shared many patrons and collectors, they nevertheless appear to have manoeuvred in totally different worlds. They were so different that their respective ideas on what art should be and can be seem irreconcilable, and yet from their extreme positions they simultaneously exerted incalculable influence on the destiny of modernism. Indeed, the author Octavio Paz once wrote: ‘Perhaps the two painters who have had the greatest influence in this century are Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp. The former with his entire oeuvre; the latter with one single work, which is a veritable negation of the modern sense of work.’

The exhibition Picasso/Duchamp “He Was Wrong” represents a passionate confrontation between what are perhaps the greatest of rivals in 20th century art. Reflecting on the resistance each artist felt towards the other is especially meaningful given that 2012 is the centennial anniversary of the first meeting between Picasso and Duchamp. The contrasts between the two artists will be explored, from Picasso’s fascination with the Minotaur to Rrose Selavy, Duchamp’s feminine alter ego. Before Picasso died in 1973, he had noted, with rising resentment, that other artists were challenging his legacy. According to Picasso’s biographer, John Richardson, the growing number of young artists who preferred Duchamp was something that Picasso could never reconcile. Richardson writes: “If it had been Matisse, who was always a rival, it wouldn’t have mattered. But who were they looking up to on the other side of the Atlantic but Marcel Duchamp of all people! Picasso despised him.” Allegedly, Picasso’s only comment on hearing that Duchamp had died was: “He was wrong.” Perhaps this is only to be expected, since Duchamp was considered to be the artist who challenged the very foundations of Picasso’s prominence: the eye, the hand, and painting itself.

Picasso/Duchamp: “He Was Wrong” emphasises the rivalry, but also lifts up correspondences, and a proximity between Picasso and Duchamp that has often been virtually ignored. Both artists were promoted in the 1930s by the leader of the surrealist movement, André Breton, who also devoted an issue of the journal Minotaure to each of them.

“We are featuring one of the most magnificent and productive rivalries of 20th century art. The most influential painter is juxtaposed for the first time in this way to the artist who has most poignantly challenged painting itself and insisted on other possibilities. This exhibition will be valuable to anyone who sometimes asks what art is and what it can be,” says Daniel Birnbaum, Director of Moderna Museet.

In large measure, Picasso/Duchamp “He Was Wrong” is composed of works by these two artists from the Moderna Museet’s collection. The Museum has one of the world’s most prestigious collections of work by Duchamp, with The Large Glass, La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, meme (1915-1923), as its centrepiece. It also has a substantial collection of paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings by Picasso. Thanks to additional loans, the exhibition covers nearly seven decades of Picasso’s oeuvre.

Two major works from the museum’s collection, Picasso’s Bouteille, Verre et Violon (1912) and Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel (1913) are set side by side to highlight the substantial incongruence between each artist’s approach to modernism. Notably, over the course of this exhibition, which opens in 2012 and closes in 2013, these two works of art will pass through their centennial anniversary. It has been 100 years since Picasso and Duchamp first asserted their influence on modern art becoming in Paz’ words, the “greatest influence on our century.”

Moderna Museet’s history is intimately linked to both artists. In 1956, before Moderna Museet was officially opened, Pablo Picasso’s legendary painting Guernica (1937) was exhibited in Stockholm. A few years later, in 1961, Marcel Duchamp visited Stockholm and providing crucial inspiration for a new generation of artists and numerous exhibitions that followed on at Moderna Museet. The upcoming exhibition is greatly enhanced by works borrowed from museums and private collections in Sweden, Denmark, France and Switzerland.

An illustrated catalogue with new essays by Daniel Birnbaum and Ronald Jones will be published in conjunction with the exhibition. The catalogue is published in association with Verlag Walther König, Cologne.

Curators: Daniel Birnbaum, Ronald Jones and Annika Gunnarsson.

MODERNA MUSEET

Exercisplan 4, 111 49 Stockholm

www.modernamuseet.se

Jeanloup Sieff, Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Jeanloup Sieff

Moderna Museet, Stockholm

19 February – 22 May 2011

The French photographer Jeanloup Sieff (1933–2000) is a legend in fashion photography and one of the most prominent photographers of his generation. Moderna Museet in Stockholm presents the first Nordic solo exhibition of Jeanloup Sieff.

Jeanloup Sieff began photographing in the early 1950s, as a contemporary of Helmut Newton and David Bailey, belonging to the generation succeeding Irving Penn. In the course of a long career, his photography spanned from fashion, advertising and portraits to reportage and landscapes. His images are often sensual and elegant, and in the 1960s he was much in demand as a fashion photographer, especially in the USA, where he lived for some years in New York. As a respected fashion photographer, Sieff had assignments for magazines such as Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Esquire, Glamour and Jardin des Modes. Sieff also engaged in commercial photography, including promotion campaigns for Chanel and Revlon and the first Yves Saint Laurent fragrance.

”In his fashion and advertising photographs the models are characteristically close to the pictorial surface, an effect achieved by using a wide-angle lens. His working method was based on physical and emotional closeness. This lack of distance makes his images exciting and visually interesting,” says Anna Tellgren, curator.

In the course of his career, Jeanloup Sieff took several now classic portraits of prominent fashion icons, including Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld and Jane Birkin. French cultural celebrities such as François Truffaut, Catherine Deneuve and Serge Gainsbourg have also been portrayed by Sieff. Several of these portraits will be featured in the exhibition at Moderna Museet. Jeanloup Sieff was deeply fascinated by dance, another of his frequent subjects. He got to know Rudolf Nureyev just after he had defected to the West, and collaborated with the American dancer and choreographer Carolyn Carlson. The exhibition at Moderna Museet presents a selection of 53 pictures from Sieff’s photographic oeuvre, with an emphasis on his dance photography.

“He was interested in the dancers as artists, and the actual struggle during rehearsal to get their bodies to perform more or less impossible movements.

His dance photographs are fascinating because they really convey the smell of sweat and the shuffling sound of dance shoes, which is exactly what he was after,” Anna Tellgren continues.

Curator: Anna Tellgren

MODERNA MUSEET

Exercisplan 4, 111 49 Stockholm

www.modernamuseet.se