Martin Skauen
dal 13/3/2009 al 10/4/2009
Segnalato da
13/3/2009
Martin Skauen
Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles
Servants Swept the Sand Smooth. The artist confronts the viewers of his drawings and animated films with some truly apocalyptic scenarios. In formats that are sometimes quite huge, he evokes dismal places that may be the scenes of murder, war or cruel rituals.
Mihai Nicodim Gallery is proud to present “Servants Swept the Sand Smooth”,
the first solo exhibition of Norwegian artist Martin Skauen in the US.
Martin Skauen confronts the viewers of his drawings and animated films with
some truly apocalyptic scenarios. In formats that are sometimes quite
huge, he evokes dismal places that may be the scenes of murder, war or
cruel rituals. Skauen’s pictorial language owes much to the nightmarish
visions of Hieronymus Bosch, for example, or to Greek mythology or
contemporary sadomasochist comics.
He creates these disturbing motifs with
sarcasm or very black humor, and the erotic is couple with violence or its
latent presence. In these images one sees the figures of martyrs,
torturers, perverts and hermaphrodites interacting in a multitude of ways,
whereby the narrative ‘scene’ always remains mysterious, admitting several
interpretations. His filmic loops - produced on the basis of
drawings - are to be understood in the sense of “extended drawings”: both
formats define and influence each other mutually and underline the artist’s
interest in the transitory. Whether static or moving, Martin Skauen’s
pictures radiate a strange, melancholy fascination, which utterly
enthralls the viewer.
Martin Skauen was born in Fredrikstad, Norway in 1975. He studied at the
National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo and last year completed a residency at
Kunstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin. Skauen has exhibited in numerous group
exhibitions including Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Athens Biennial, Athens,
Frankfurter Kunstverein, Gothenburg Kunsthall in Sweden and Kunstnernes Hus,
Oslo. Recent solo exhibitions include Galleri MGM, Oslo, Kunstlerhaus
Bethanien, Berlin and Laura Bartlett Gallery, London.
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 14, 6 – 8 pm
Nicodim Gallery
944 Chung King Rd - Los Angeles
Free admission