Galleri Nicolai Wallner is pleased to present The Autumn Show—a group exhibition with works by Alexander Tovborg, Jesper Just, Jose Dávila, Julie Lænkholm, Kinga Bartis and Rasmus Myrup.

Exploring themes around circularity, natural elements including water, plants and textiles, shifting bodies and spherical forms come together to give us the feeling of something constantly in flux.

In the first room, Kinga Bartis’ painting In Between Bliss evokes a world in which floating bodies intertwine seamlessly with water, shifting as we interact with the work, ebbing and flowing with us, moving with us and against us. Bartis’ works crate an energetic and deliberately ambiguous space which makes room for themes of sexuality, power structures, the body and self-perception which can be felt throughout these motions as the pulsate towards us.

Julie Lænkholm’s textile works emanate a sense of being alive, of the work being continually activated. Lænkholm’s practice has its roots in the ideas and the methods centred around collective learning. The technique and materiality of the work imparts its knowledge to us, bringing us in and simultaneously integrating us and our experience in the work, as it continues to expand.

Alexander Tovborg’s work builds on the iconic imagery of mother and child that can be found throughout the history of painting. In this instance, Tovborg looks to his own life. The painting depicts his newly born second child, Dea, along with his partner, musician and composer) Cæcilie Trier. The labours of our life cycles and the loaded history this iconography holds are brought into focus, as Tovborg’s interpretation adds another layer to the story.

Jose Dávila’s two paintings repurpose imagery from existing works of modern art, including references to Hilma af Klimt, Sonia and Robert Delaunay and Frank Stella among others. Focusing on their use of the circle, the imagery becomes a kind of vocabulary through which new words and sentences can be formed. Both playful and evocative, Dávila introduces to a world where these constellations co-exist.

Rasmus Myrup’s works on paper depict two portraits of Neanderthal men. In one, a closeup of a Neanderthal man’s face reveals the familiar pose of someone looking at the wrinkles on their face as it reflects in the water below. In the other, a Neanderthal man poses elegantly on the edge of a cavernous lake, strategically positioned to be able to check out his own backside in its reflection. These routine gestures of self-observation—present in our own daily lives—intermesh our narratives with those of the Neanderthals, as Myrup’s cheekily fills in the gaps of our own understanding. 

These feelings are echoed in the second room with Jesper Just’s installation. Parts of a body are shown on film, moving, slowly pulsating in an electrifying violet light that emanates from a section of LED screen. The screen itself has been reworked to function as part of a hydroponic cultivation system which enables a plant placed in front of it to grow in water, fed only by the light emitting from the film playing on the LED screen. This intersection between technology, nature, intention and modification produces a visceral feeling as the installation grows and evolves over time.