Martin Skauen
19 Sep - 05 Oct 2008
MARTIN SKAUEN
“Servants Swept the Sand Smooth”
19th September – 5th October 2008, Studio 2
OPENING: Thursday, 18th September 2008, from 7 pm
MARTIN SKAUEN confronts the viewers of his drawings and animated films with some truly apocalyptic scenarios. In formats that are sometimes quite huge, he employs great precision and a love of detail to evoke dismal places that are the scene of murder, war or cruel rituals. Skauen’s pictorial language owes much to the nightmarish visions of Hieronymus Bosch, but also to Greek mythology or contemporary sadomasochist comics, for example. He creates these disturbing motifs with sarcasm or very black humour, 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. Martin Skauen is a “dramatist of cruelty” (Ch. Tannert), and this is revealed in an exemplary way in works such as What Goes Around Comes Around (2007), a motorpowered, circular picture mounted on an aluminium frame. To date, Skauen has also produced four “filmed drawings”, which are shown in short loops: It All Fucking Fits (2004), Death of a Toast - master ( 2005), The Polarbear Split. A Handmade Musical (2006) and Felix Culpa. A Handmade Massacre (2007). The drawings on paper are not only preliminary stages leading to the filmic loops, they can 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.
Martin Skauen’s pictorial worlds illustrate the vanity of mankind’s efforts to overcome transience. They radiate a strange, melancholy fascination, which utterly enthrals the viewer.
Martin Skauen is showing a selection of recent works in Studio 2 of Künstlerhaus Bethanien.
MARTIN SKAUEN *1975 in Fredrikstad, Norway, lives and works in Oslo and Berlin. He studied art at Mølla Artschool in Moss, Norway and the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo. Exhibitions include: There’s Plenty of Gold, I’ve Been Told, Galleri MGM, Oslo 2008; Laura Bartlett Gallery, London 2008; Lights On, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo 2008; Tang Contemporary (curator Carol Lu), Beijing 2008; 1st Athens Biennial, 2007; When it starts it is the right time (curator: Chus Martinez), Frankfurter Kunstverein 2007.
Martin Skauen currently holds a fellowship from the Office for Contemporary Art Norway and is participating in our International Studio Programme.
“Servants Swept the Sand Smooth”
19th September – 5th October 2008, Studio 2
OPENING: Thursday, 18th September 2008, from 7 pm
MARTIN SKAUEN confronts the viewers of his drawings and animated films with some truly apocalyptic scenarios. In formats that are sometimes quite huge, he employs great precision and a love of detail to evoke dismal places that are the scene of murder, war or cruel rituals. Skauen’s pictorial language owes much to the nightmarish visions of Hieronymus Bosch, but also to Greek mythology or contemporary sadomasochist comics, for example. He creates these disturbing motifs with sarcasm or very black humour, 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. Martin Skauen is a “dramatist of cruelty” (Ch. Tannert), and this is revealed in an exemplary way in works such as What Goes Around Comes Around (2007), a motorpowered, circular picture mounted on an aluminium frame. To date, Skauen has also produced four “filmed drawings”, which are shown in short loops: It All Fucking Fits (2004), Death of a Toast - master ( 2005), The Polarbear Split. A Handmade Musical (2006) and Felix Culpa. A Handmade Massacre (2007). The drawings on paper are not only preliminary stages leading to the filmic loops, they can 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.
Martin Skauen’s pictorial worlds illustrate the vanity of mankind’s efforts to overcome transience. They radiate a strange, melancholy fascination, which utterly enthrals the viewer.
Martin Skauen is showing a selection of recent works in Studio 2 of Künstlerhaus Bethanien.
MARTIN SKAUEN *1975 in Fredrikstad, Norway, lives and works in Oslo and Berlin. He studied art at Mølla Artschool in Moss, Norway and the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo. Exhibitions include: There’s Plenty of Gold, I’ve Been Told, Galleri MGM, Oslo 2008; Laura Bartlett Gallery, London 2008; Lights On, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo 2008; Tang Contemporary (curator Carol Lu), Beijing 2008; 1st Athens Biennial, 2007; When it starts it is the right time (curator: Chus Martinez), Frankfurter Kunstverein 2007.
Martin Skauen currently holds a fellowship from the Office for Contemporary Art Norway and is participating in our International Studio Programme.