POLKA SWING OM: suicide overkill @Göteborg 2006

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LA PETITE MORT

En soloudstilling af Anika Lori

Åbning: fredag den 31.07.09 kl. 17 – 22.

Udstillingsperiode: fra den 01.08.09 – 22.08.09

En af de meget eftertragtede kunstnere i Danmark i disse år er Anika Lori. Hun boede tidligere på den mørke side af månen, men har i de senere år roteret med planeten, og er nu endt i lyset. I sin udstilling, La Petite Mort, går Anika på opdagelsestogt i de sprækker, som mørket skjulte. Anikas tidligere kunstneriske genganger, den grædende klovn, er nu erstattet af en række masker, fysiske såvel som symbolske, som hun lader både opføre og falde. I jagt på selve kernen – eller erkendelsen af at der ingen kerne findes.

La Petite Mort er som en billeddagbog og et legesygt skatkammer af identiteter, følelser, frustrationer, fortrængninger, erkendelser og sårbar fascination. Gammelt afklippet hår fra Anikas mor, en kjole hun selv er vokset ud af, hendes søns aflagte legetøj, en lok fra hendes kæreste og personlige hemmeligheder fylder de farvestrålende malerier, collager og skulpturer med minder, melankoli, længsel, sorg og glæde. Objekter, der eksisterer i sin egen ret, men som også pludselig indgår i et andet univers og dets galakser af indtryk og udtryk for livets mangfoldighed og meningsløshed på godt og ondt.

Teletubbies, Østens tæpper, voodoodukker fra Haïti, Sun-Ras syrede pladecovers og smukke vintage bøssepornoblade. Alle elementer er dele af det repetitive grundmønster, som Anika væver sammen til en livsscene. Her kolliderer identiteter og følelser - nogle gange i fuld alvor, nogle gange med ræven bag øret. For det er ikke kun ærligheden der hersker. Det er også dekadencens glæde ved legen med den sandhed, som nok alligevel aldrig er komplet. For hvor går grænsen? Og går den overhovedet?

Hvor Anika tidligere har arbejdet mest med collager, består meget af denne udstilling også af malerier og skulpturer. Nogle af værkerne er blevet til over et år. Andre er skabt mere spontant. Nogle er svære at afkode. Andre kaster slagord efter en. Men en rød tråd løber gennem dem alle: identitetskrisen og roen ved erkendelsen af, at den er et uomgængeligt livsvilkår. Og at den i hvert fald er at foretrække frem for et af tilværelsens andre uomgængelige vilkår: døden.

Så med dødsangsten i hælene og modviljen til at gå glip af noget i behold, er Anikas La Petite Mort en hyldest til livet med alle dets veje og vildveje. I forlængelse heraf kommer ønsket om at lade det livsbekræftende rod regere over den rationelle orden. Farve- og motiveksplosioner forstyrrer den rene grafiske linje, som livets realiteter forstyrrer idealismens rene tanker. Mange af værkerne føles derfor som en sten i skoen, der nok irriterer, men også holder foden i gang.

ANIKA LORI, født 1975, opvokset i Århus. Efter tre år som assistent for den danske kunstner Tal R, debuterede Anika i 2006 med soloudstilling på V1 Gallery. Herefter har hun været it-pigen på gruppeudstillinger og kunstmesser i hele verden. La Petite Mort er Anikas anden soloudstililng.

TEKST: NANNA THYLSTRUP/V1 GALLERY

PRESSRELEASE ENGLISH

LA PETITE MORT

A solo show By ANIKA LORI

Opening day: Friday July 31. 2009. From 17 – 22.

Exhibition period: August 1. – August 22. 2009.

At present time Anika Lori is one of the most treasured young Danish artists. She used to live on the dark side of the moon – but lately she has rotated with the planet and has now turned up on its bright side. In her exhibition La Petite Mort, Anika Lori explores what the dark was hiding in its cracks and crevices. An old friend of Anika’s, the Crying Child, has now been replaced by a number of masks – physical as well as symbolic – which she both mounts and let fall. This is done in her search of the crux – or in the realization of its non-existence.

La Petite Mort is like a diary of images, a playful treasure trove of identities, of feelings and frustrations, of repressions and realizations as well as of vulnerable fascination. Old cut-off hair from Anika’s mom, a dress Anika outgrew, her son’s toys, a lock of hair from her boyfriend and personal secrets conquers the colorful canvases, collages and sculptures with memories, melancholy, longing, sorrow and happiness. Objects, that leave their formal existence and become integrated in a different universe and its galaxies of impressions and expressions of the multiplicity and the meaninglessness of life, for better or worse.

Teletubbies, Persian rugs, voodoo dolls from Haïti, Sun-Ra’s psychedelic record covers and beautiful vintage gay porn magazines are all elements of the repetitive fundamental pattern that Anika weaves together into a scenery of life. Identities and sentiments collide – sometimes in a grave manner, at other times with tongue in cheek and a sparkle in the eye. It is not only honesty that rules. It’s also the decadent joy of playing with the truth, which never seems complete. Where is the line drawn? And can it be drawn at all?

Where in the past, Anika has mainly worked with collages as medium, this new exhibition primarily contains paintings and sculptures. Some works have been worked on for a more than a year - others have been created spontaneously. Some are difficult to decode. Others shout statements in your face. But a recurrent theme connects them all: Identity crisis and the calmness that comes from accepting that it is an inevitable condition of life. And in all cases, it is to be preferred when juxtaposed against one of life’s other inevitable conditions: death.

So with the anxiety of death hot on the heels and the resentment of missing out on anything, La Petite Mort is an homage to life with all it’s directions and detours. In continuation hereof comes the wish of letting the life-affirming mess rule upon the rational order. Explosions of colors and motives interrupt the straight graphic line, as realities of life disturb the pure thoughts of idealism. Many of Anika’s works feel like the annoying pebble in the shoe: It irritates, but at the same time it keeps the body moving.

Anika Lori was born in 1975 and grew up in Aarhus, Denmark. After three years working Danish artist Tal R’s assistant, she had her first solo exhibition at V1 Gallery in 2006. Hereafter she has been the it-girl on group shows and art fairs throughout the world. Her last solo exhibition was at Union Gallery, London, in 2008. La Petite Mort is Anika’s second solo exhibition at V1 Gallery.

WORDS: NANNA THYLSTRUP/V1 GALLERY

It is a very fine line that successful Danish collage artist Anika Lori is dancing away on. Only small strokes of paint, plaster or glue can turn ugliness into aesthetic and mundane material into new insights and connotations – and vice versa.

This fine line dualism is the universe of Lori’s expressive work that already has brought her to attention in galleries in Copenhagen, Schweiz, London, Berlin and Paris.

The 34-year old Lori finetuned her technique during her three years of working as an artistic assistant to renowned Danish artist Tal R – and since her solo debut in 2006 she has demonstrated a mastery of an expression and a language that’s most definitely her own.

In Lori’s collage works, the grotesque collides with gratifying beauty. Drawing equally on pop art and surrealism as well as pin ups and circus posters Lori creates a universe that appeals and provokes simultaneously.

A decorative pattern can still have an unsettling impact when studied closer and a crass imagery can still hold aesthetic appeals – but always on the background of a subtle tongue-in-cheek humor.

Anika Lori debuted at the Copenhagen V1 gallery that she still is part of. But apart from her highly demanded collage works, she has also established herself as an integral and colorful part of the Copenhagen art scene. She has been involved in a long line of projects from decoration assignments to performances in close collaboration with musical artist – always filled with the same sparkling and lively slight of madness as her works and her personality.

As few, Anika Lori has demonstrated an instinctive feel for using new internet technology for spreading her art and being in a constant dialogue with her audience.

Her sites on communities such as myspace, flickr and blogspot are visited by tens of thousands of people from all over the world and have spurred the attention for her work far beyond the borders of Denmark.

by: Christian Lehmann

Friday, May 29, 2009

suicide overkill @Göteborg 2006

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