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16/1/2014

Jonathan Monk / Jesper Just

Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen

Jonathan Monk
Left Foot

Galleri Nicolai Wallner is pleased to present a solo exhibition of works by Jonathan Monk entitled "Left Foot". Interactive and brightly colored, "Left Foot" features the irreverent humor for which Monk is known.

Incorporating movement, performance and imagery, the exhibition explores the ideas behind time and sequence, as Monk subtly questions the spectator’s understanding of the passage of time. With "All The Possible Combinations Of Eight Legs Kicking (One At A Time)" (2012-2013), Monk demonstrates the juxtaposition between the clinical reality of time, and our spontaneous reaction to it. The work is a literal representation of its title—as the legs have been programmed to kick in every sequence possible, a total of 40320 different sequences that take over 177 hours to complete. In contrast with this objective demonstration the gesture of kicking is quite explosive, imitating the movements of a cancan dancer, and it is this burst of emotion that makes evident the suspense that exist throughout the duration of the work. While the spectator is aware that the legs are specifically programmed to kick at a specific time, the precise time at which this event occurs is not given, creating a kind of guessing game where the spectator attempts to predict when each kick will happen, with each individual having their own idea of when it will happen.

This contradiction that arises from our subjective interpretation of time is equally evident in "Back in 5 Minutes" (2013) and "Back Soon" (2014), where a similar guessing game is created. In both works, the spectator is left to speculate as to what constitutes five minutes and what constitutes “soon”, and furthermore what Monk might constitute them as—questions that the artist deliberately refuses to answer. While five minutes is a concept that can be very precisely qualified, the idea of soon is much more fluid and is strictly dependent on how the spectator understands their own preconceptions as well as how they feel within that specific context, revealing the individual nature of how we understand time. The spectator becomes part of the work, as their inclination to wait in front of the work is directly correlated with their idea of what these concepts constitute—as such, the work takes on a performative quality.

The concept of time is more abstract with the work "Left Foot (2013)". The work is composed of two plaster casts of Monk's own left foot that have been enlarged. One sits within the context of the exhibition space, while the other foot is deliberately forgotten, left somewhere else in the gallery. The symbol of the foot holds specific significance within religion, art, literature and superstition, often used to evoke virility, permanence and even the ability to ward off evil. Within the context of the exhibition, this mysticism can be interpreted as a kind of monument, a physical marker of Monk's existence in a set time that will persist through into the future.

What becomes apparent throughout the exhibition is Monk’s allusion to the passage of time as not existing within a linear framework. While time itself might be constant, this does not imply that our personal experience be as regulated, nor does it imply that we cannot exert control over how we move through it

Jonathan Monk (b. 1969) lives and works in Berlin and Glasgow, and has exhibited extensively throughout the world, notably with solo shows at Kunstraum Dornbirn (Dornbirn), CAC (Malaga) and Centre d’édition contemporaine (Geneva) as well as two parallel solo exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo (Paris) and Musée d’art modern de la Ville de Paris (Paris). His works exist in the permanent collections of MoMA (New York), Tate Modern (London), Guggenheim Museum (New York) and Moderna Museet (Stockholm) among others.

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Jesper Just
A Ruin in Progress

Galleri Nicolai Wallner is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of works by Jesper Just entitled "A Ruin in Progress". For the first time in his career, Jesper Just combines the mediums of photography, film and sculpture in this new exhibition, creating an interactive, immersive environment which purposefully underlines the works’ shared thematics.

With the photographic series "A Ruin in Progress (Intercourses)" (2014), the location of the work is built on a set of contradictions that produce an unsettling ambiguity. The work appears to take place in a futuristic or alternate Paris, as iconic elements such as the Eiffel Tower and imposing European architecture are mixed with subtropical vegetation and decay. The location appears to be in a perpetual state of both grown and decay, as structures appear to both be under construction as well as abandoned, left in ruins. Crumbling architecture, derelict paths and other man-made structures represent the quiet vestiges of what once had potential. While not made directly explicit within the work, the real-life location of the photographs is a city in China that was built with the idea to emulate the architecture and feeling of Paris. The juxtapositions of this location are carefully exposed, as the work provides vivid yet fleeting glimpses into this alternate reality, leaving the spectator with unanswered questions as to what was not captured.

This idea of a location in ruin is echoed in the film "Llano". The film is named after where it was filmed, Llano Del Rio—a location which was once home to utopian socialist commune that failed due to a lack of water supply and was thus abandoned. In a succinct twist, the film focuses on an abandoned structure that is slowly deteriorating under a steady stream of water coming from an irrigation system in an otherwise empty desert. The only other presence in the movie is a lone woman who appears within the structure, making futile attempts to fix the collapsing structure. Her existence as well as the existence of the structure is unexplained. While the self-destructive nature of the structure gives the spectator some insight into the conflict, much of its context is left deliberately vague.

In contrast to "A Ruin in Progress (Intercourses)", where the spectator is left to interpret at what time in the conflict the work takes place, the struggle in "Llano" is evident. As the stream of water speeds up the decay, the question thus becomes what happens when it is gone.

Intervening within the exhibition space is new sculpture by Just, "High Bench (Intercourses)" (2014)—a rough structure that both facilitates and obstructs viewing of the works. Both a refuge and an impediment, the structure echoes the conflicts that are present in both "A Ruin in Progress (Intercourses)" and "Llano", physically demonstrating the impossibility of both situations.

Jesper Just (b. 1974, Denmark) lives and works in New York. In 2013, he represented Denmark at the Venice Biennale. His work is permanently represented in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum (New York), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Tate Modern (London), Carnegie Museum (Pittsburgh), ARoS (Aarhus), HEART (Herning) and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Humlebæk) among many others. This year he will have solo presentations at ARoS (Aarhus), The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul), and at Des Moines Art Center (Des Moines).

Image: Jonathan Monk, Back in 5 Minutes (2013). C-print on Fine Art Baryta glossy 325 gr., mounted on foam, oak, leather, cardboard Photo: 163 x 116 cm Chair: 78 x 50 x 50 cm Edition of 2 (+ 1 AP)

Galleri Nicolai Wallner
Ny Carlsberg Vej 68 • OG • 1760 Copenhagen V • Denmark
Opening Hours: Tues-Fri 12 - 5 pm, Sat 12 - 3 pm
Admission free

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