Galleri Nicolai Wallner is pleased to present an online presentation exploring Jeppe Hein’s interest in reflections and the idea of presence.

Jeppe Hein bases much of his practice on the relationships that exist between our internal consciousness and more physical elements. Using minimal yet elegant materials that often reflect our own image, as well as forms that playfully encourage us to move our bodies and to change positions, Jeppe Hein creates an interactive and constantly changing dialogue between the spectator, the work, and the exhibition space that surrounds it.

His two-way mirror boxes provide a platform through which he creates these intimate moments of interaction. Phrase written in neon are placed in a box created with two-way mirror, which reflects both the person who stands in front of the work and the surrounding space. The result is very honest and direct, as the text is superimposed on top of your reflection, giving you the space to not only think the phrase as it pertains to you but also to remember that you are in the here and the now.

With the work There is always someone else, Hein takes a step back from the neon text and instead poignantly places two candles discreetly within the box in a way that only their flame is visible to us. Bringing to mind 19th century painter Vilhelm Hammershøi’s beautiful way of playing with light, candles and reflections as a means to remind us that we are constantly interacting with people, ideas and things. We are never alone, there is always someone else, even if they are not right by our side.

Jeppe Hein (b. 1974, Denmark) has had solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions around the world, including Centre Pompidou (Paris), Tate Liverpool (Liverpool), Spregel Museum (Hannover), Shirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt), ARoS (Aarhus), IMA Indianapolis Museum of Art (Indianapolis), Barbican Art Centre (London), Hayward Gallery (London), the National Gallery of Denmark (Copenhagen), Bass Museum of Art (Miami), Mito Tower Art Museum (Tokyo), 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art (Kanazawa), and Bonniers Konsthall (Stockholm) among many others. In 2015, Hein had a major solo public exhibition as part of the Public Art Fund (New York) in Brooklyn Bridge Park, as well as a solo exhibition at Kusntmuseum Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg), Nouveau Musee National de Monaco (Monaco) and Kunsthalle Kiel (Kiel). He has had recent public installation placed at Kistefos Museum (Jevnaker), Fondation Carmignac (Porquerolles), and in the cities of Lemvig, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Berlin, Aarhus, and Copenhagen. Hein’s work can be found in the public collections of FRAC Lorraine (Metz), MMK Museum fur Moderne Kunst (Frankfurt am Main), Centre Pompidou (Paris), MOCA (Los Angeles), Tate Gallery (London) and the National Gallery of Denmark (Copenhagen) among many others.