ON PAPER 2010

ISBN 87-90538-31-5

Exhibition on paper March 27 - May 6, 2010 // Stalke Galleri

Lawrence Anastasi, William Anastasi, Bella Angora, William Anthony, Thomas Bang, Thorbjørn Bechmann, Anne Bennike, Alexandra Berlinger, Kristleifur Björnsson, Ditte Bolt, Niels Bonde, Dove Bradshaw, Jes Brinch, Flemming Brusgaard, Søren Dahlgaard, Jeanette Ehlers, Susanne Eybl, Jesper Fabricius, Christian Falsnaes, Martin Fraenkel, Nils Erik Gjerdevik, Lars Grenaae, Nilbar Güres, Thorgej Steen Hansen, Jochem Hendricks, Berit Heggenhougen Jensen, Peter Holst Henckel, Kristian Hornsleth, Barbara Husar, Marie Irmgard, Lidy Jacobs, John Krogh, Thorbjørn Lausten, Katrin von Maltzahn, Tati Meir, Lone Mertz, Albert Mertz, Ultra Grøn (Morten Leck Plesner and Christian E. Dinesen), Tiina Elina Nurminen, Kaj Nyborg, Janet Passehl, Hans Peterson, Sebastian Quedenbaum, Nikolaj Recke, Finn Reinbothe, Stefan Saffer, Steinunn Helga Siguròardóttir, Morten Tillitz, Iv Toshain, Vu Thi Trang, Anu Tuominen, Ulrick Weck, Hulda Vilhjamsdottier, Fabian Weinecke, Gunnar Örn

Curator: Sam Jedig

On paper P03

On paper 2010

Exhibition on paper March 27 - May 6, 2010 Stalke Galleri Englerupvej 62, Kirke Sonnerup 4060 Kirke Saaby Denmark Tel. +45 2926 7433 Stalke@stalke.dk ISBN: 87-90538-31-5 All rightsŽ reserved: Š2010 authors, photographers as listed and the publisher Stalke Gallery

What is more suitable for a playful exhibition with artworks, which are making use of this media in all kinds of ways? Isn’t paper the basic medium of making art? There are surely very few artists who never used it in their creative process at a certain point.

But nevertheless paper, as a medium is not as easy as it seems: Its approximately 2200-year-old history might about to be over. It is definitely in its last chapter.

In the ancient China paper was something holy and the making of it a carefully protected secret. The Arabs brought it to the west and with Gutenberg’s letter press machine it got its breakthrough: money, books, documents, pamphlets, pictures, photos, photocopies. It became the communication media from the highest to the lowest culture for the next 500 years.

Paper and digital culture Now we are in the middle of a new revolution of communication: More and more information in our culture becomes digital. The computer displaces paper, which means that a material information carrier is displaced by a virtual one. We can only guess where it leads. The fact is: credit cards displace money, kids are using their notebooks instead of exercise books and David Hockney just demonstrated how great it is to make drawings on his iPod. One might think so that paper is a bit old fashioned and that contemporary artists should use other media, which fits better in our connected world.

But paper as a medium has special qualities, which are worth holding on to:

On paper P07

ďƒ¨

Spirit on paper

There is something innocent and light in the image of a paper airplane like on this catalogue. Just think about a kid playing with it.

To draw a line on paper is a direct trace of a hand’s movement on to a material carrier.

The use of digital media always cuts off this direct connection because of the digital translation of the information. Looking at that drawn line refers directly to the human body. William Anastasi reduces the process of drawing precisely to this fact.

Composition, figuration, everything is left out. There is only this single line going back and forth following the silent rhythm of the hand.

The memory of paper The first impression of this exhibition is the amazing range of styles in this media.

But not only the style, also what artists do with this material is widespread: You can draw, write on it, fold it, cut, rip and glue it, stick holes into it or print on it. All these possibilities you don’t have on canvas. You find it in sculpture, but while sculpture can make use of all kind of materials here it’s always paper. Beside that its use is far beyond just being an artist’s material: all kind of text has been printed on it – not only literature, but also mathematical diagrams, architectural plans, illustrations in biology and other sciences. There is the Japanese origami tradition of folding figures; you can use paper for modelling as papier-mâché, just to mention a few things. Using paper as an artist connects you to a wide ranging memory of its use. an extention of mind Paper and pen are inexpensive, easy to get everywhere, easy to handle. Therefore they are such suitable media for artists to do sketches or immediate indications of thoughts.

That makes it the first representation of the creative process, a material extension of the thinking mind. If you are doing performance or video: you clear and formulate your ideas best on paper. Christian Falsnæs is a good example of this method: The sketches for his performances anticipates the work he has in mind, but also have their own visual language. Because paper is in this way so close to the artists mind it has something intimate, which is rarely found in finished works like a sculpture or a painting.

where all artists learn to walk



All kids draw on paper. Not all of them become artists, but those who do have taken their firsts steps with this material. It continues in school and art schools. Beside all the new media you can choose, academies are still holding on to offer drawing classes. Paper is the media for studying. Here artists are trying to work out their ideas.

On paper P09

Paper and BODY

Fabian Weinecke rips pieces of painted paper apart and glues them together again in new shapes to continue working on them: thereby he nullifies failing as something negative. - Paper shreds are not for the scrap but forms the material for the final artwork.

Ditte Bold shows digital photos - beautiful coloured compositions. A closer look indeed reveals that there are several layers of paper on top of each other: the sheets under are hidden and we can speculate as to what we could have seen on them: earlier versions on their way to the final perfection? Different motifs, which have been sorted out? We don’t know, but our speculations disturb the perception of the finished works. They become contingent – only one possibility among others.

This leads to another quality we can find in paper compared with computer-assisted design: It is an honest media, which keeps all mistakes visible. To erase a line leaves a trace, which still testifies as to what was there. William Kentridge works with this in a beautiful way in his animated films based on charcoal drawing: his fantastic metamorphosis’ of things appears even more intriguing with the traces of the eraser remaining visible.

Digital transformations are always clean. The process of manipulation is invisible. To delete or change leaves no traces. Paper has a resistance against manipulation. Even the destruction of paper leaves something behind.

There is the famous quote of Heinrich Heine uses to describe the terrible event of the “Bücherverbrennung” 1933 by the Nazis: “Where they burn books, they will ultimately also burn people”. The parallel with the soul of books and the soul of people is not thinkable for files: If we delete files, we don’t delete people.

Paper is egalitarian Sometimes you can observe that if an artist is suddenly lucky enough to make a good deal of money with his works, his production changes: He can afford a bigger studio, use more expensive material, hire assistances or even a whole staff or company to produce his artworks.

Working on paper has no high production costs. All artists can afford it. All are on the same level. In this show where famous artists are hanging next to unknown artists, differences can be experienced in the content or formal accomplishment, not in the production costs.

Paper is for art lovers In the entrance hall of an insurance company or any large firm you will often find huge canvases with more or less sophisticated geometric shapes. The artists are well known – more for their prices than what their art really is about. Here art is about prestige.

A flat decorated with some small works – over the sofa, at the kitchen table or in the bedroom – shows something different: a person who loves art and likes to be surrounded by it. For this art lover works on paper are ideal: The prices are not so high (if you stay away from the big names) and paperworks are affordable to a lot of young collectors who are starting to collect. What you get is maybe not prestige; with a small drawing you get a friend or companion for life, where you can warm your heart. You don’t get less in value: works on paper might be not so elaborate, but they still carry the essence of art: the spirit of the artist.

Paper is not dead Painting has been declared dead many times and it always came back proving to be much alive. So even though the digital revolution is changing all our lives we can be sure that paper is not going to die out soon.

Sebastian Quedenbaum

On paper P11

resistance of paper

Even if you use paper for digital photos there is still one big difference to having the same photos saved on a hard disk: There you can delete them with one mouse click.

- A paper you have to ripe into pieces, throw out or burn.

Several artists in the show are demonstrating this resistance of paper:

On paper P13

Up/

jes brinch Down/

anu tuominen

Up/

Berit heggenhougen jensen Down/

william anastasi

On paper P15 Left/

nilbar gĂźnes Left/

Center/

thorej steen hansen

katrin von maltzahn

Right/

Right/

fabian weinecke

Kristleifur BjĂśrnsson

On paper P17 Left/

bella angora Left/

Right/

john krogh

susanne eybl

Right/

Right/

albert mertz

meir tati

On paper P19

Left/

Top/

Right/

dove bradshaw

barbara husar

albert mertz

Right/

Left/

Right/

thomas bang

john krogh

lone mertz

On paper P21

Center/

ULRICH WECK

Center/

DITTE BOLT

On paper P23 P01

Left/

berit heggenhouge jensen Right/

lidy jacobs

Center/

søren dahlgaard

On paper P25

Left/

meir tati Center/

jeanette ehlers Center/

Right/

William anthony

morten tillitz

On paper P27

Left/

Niels erik gjerdevijk Up right/

Iv toshain Down right/

flemming brusgaard

Left/

jes brinch Center/

morten lech plesner Right/

hans peterson

On paper P29

Left/

sebastian quedenbaum Right/

flemming brusgaard Center/

HULDA VILHJAMSDOTTIER

On paper P31 Left/

finn reinbothe Top right/

hulda vilhjรกmsdร ttir Center/

NIKOLAJ RECKE

Right/

meir tati

On paper P33

Up/

vu thi trang Down/

peter holst henckel

Up/

john krogh Down/

bella angora

On paper P35

Left/

lidy jacobs Right/

kristlejfur bjรถrnsson

Center/

jesper fabricius

On paper P37 Left/

janeth passehl Center/

peter holst henckel Left/

kristlejfur bjĂśrnsson Center/

thorbjørn lausten Right/

ulrick weck

Up right/

finn e. dinesen Center right/

kaj nyborg Down right/

jochem hendricks

On paper P39 Top/

kristian hornsleth Center/

MEIR TATI

Down/

anu tuominen

On paper P41

Center/

Center/

tiina elina nurminen

LONE MERTZ

On paper P43

Up/

morten tillitz Down/

anne bennike

Up/

steinunn helga sigurÒardÓttir Down/

fabian weinecke

On paper P45

Left/

Center/

marie irmgard

christian falsnĂŚs

On paper P47

Left/

niels bonde Left/

lawrence anastasi

Right/

jeanette ehlers

On paper P49

Up/

jaNet passehl Down/

alexandra berlinger

Up/

sebastian quedenbaum Down/

albert mertz

On paper P51

Up/

martin franckel Down/

stefan saffer

Up/

william anthony Down/

susanne eybl

In aknowledgement of their generosity and creativity: Austrian Embassy Copenhagen, Thomas Rehbein Gallerie, Thomas Bang, William Anthony, Sebastian Quedenbaum, Tine Quedenbaum, Anne Bennike, Flemming Brunsgaard, Trekroner Offset, Lone Wulff, Marie Wulff, Amalie Wulff, Mette Flink and all artists...

Catalogue publisher:

Stalke Gallery, Englerupvej 62, Kirke Sonnerup, DK-4060 Kirke Saaby Editor:

Sam Jedig Text by:

Sebastian Quedenbaum Catalogue design:

flink.

Photo Credits:

Sam Jedig + artists Offset:

Trekroner Offset Edition: 1st edition ISBN: 87-90538-31-5

All rightsŽ reserved: Š2010 authors, photographers as listed and the publisher Stalke Gallery

On paper P53

Exhibition on paper March 27 - May 6, 2010

ISBN 87-90538-31-5

Exhibition on paper March 27 - May 6, 2010 // Stalke Galleri