Alexander Tovborg - The Knight of Faith
01 Oct 2016 - 08 Jan 2017
Kunstforeningen GL STRAND is proud to present a solo exhibition of the up-and-coming Danish visual artist Alexander Tovborg (b. 1983 in Copenhagen). Under the title The Knight of Faith Tovborg continues his investigations of religion and mythology.
Alexander Tovborg will create new works for the exhibition with a thematic focus on the story of Noah’s Ark. This Tovborg explores by way of unconventional materials and formats. A large frieze runs around the entire wall in the skylight gallery on the third floor and shows colourful scenes from the Old Testament story. The frieze forms a scenic backdrop for the exhibition’s central work, a monumental sculpture painted and designed as a ‘jumping castle’ in a formal idiom with inspiration from earlier depictions of Noah’s Ark. Both works are painted with Tovborg’s characteristic colour palette and symbolic formal idiom. But it is an unusual material, yellow PVC, that Tovborg uses for both the frieze and the jumping castle and as well in the exhibition scenography – a material that is best known from the Playland universe. The material's synthetic character helps to give the works and the space a striking and intense sensory impact.
In the past year Tovborg set up the Ark at town celebrations and red-letter days around the country, where the work was used by two people at a time who could become actively involved in the narrative of the myth of the chosen ones in the Ark. Tovborg himself participated in the events which made an important contribution to the performative totality of the work. Now, the work will return to its original starting point as an artwork and monument in the exhibition at GL STRAND, where the journey of the ark around the country and the many encounters with its users can be experienced in a documentary film presentation.
Alexander Tovborg will create new works for the exhibition with a thematic focus on the story of Noah’s Ark. This Tovborg explores by way of unconventional materials and formats. A large frieze runs around the entire wall in the skylight gallery on the third floor and shows colourful scenes from the Old Testament story. The frieze forms a scenic backdrop for the exhibition’s central work, a monumental sculpture painted and designed as a ‘jumping castle’ in a formal idiom with inspiration from earlier depictions of Noah’s Ark. Both works are painted with Tovborg’s characteristic colour palette and symbolic formal idiom. But it is an unusual material, yellow PVC, that Tovborg uses for both the frieze and the jumping castle and as well in the exhibition scenography – a material that is best known from the Playland universe. The material's synthetic character helps to give the works and the space a striking and intense sensory impact.
In the past year Tovborg set up the Ark at town celebrations and red-letter days around the country, where the work was used by two people at a time who could become actively involved in the narrative of the myth of the chosen ones in the Ark. Tovborg himself participated in the events which made an important contribution to the performative totality of the work. Now, the work will return to its original starting point as an artwork and monument in the exhibition at GL STRAND, where the journey of the ark around the country and the many encounters with its users can be experienced in a documentary film presentation.