Peter Linde Busk
25 Feb - 28 Apr 2012
PETER LINDE BUSK
25 February - 28 April, 2012
The roots of Peter Linde Busk’s (Copenhagen, 1973) artistic research go back a long way, to expressionist painting and to ancient techniques such as etching and woodcuts. Both the thematic content and the titles of his works derive from classic writers such as Charles Baudelaire, Rainer Maria Rilke and Arthur Rimbaud, together with contemporary masters such as David Milch and David Simon – respectively the creators of the television series ‘Deadwood’ (2004 – 2006) and ‘The Wire’ (2002-2008). Of crucial influence in the formation of Peter Linde Busk's practise is the important essay by Hans Prinzhorn entitled Artistry of the Mentally Ill (1922), considered to be the first attempt to analyse the drawings of the mentally ill in aesthetic terms rather than from a purely psychological angle.
A look at Busk's work brings to mind echoes of Medieval iconography - the emaciated, clear-cut figures we see in the apses of Romanesque churches - artfully combined with references to the art of the Cobra group. Derived from the anti-heroic portrait tradition, the work of this Danish artist brings about a mise en scène of seemingly marginal characters that are elevated to the status of absolute protagonists - crownless kings, ethereal female figures, knights with dazzling headdresses reminiscent of Napoleonic officers.
All these elements populate the apparently chaotic and surreal world of Linde Busk, in which time is crystallised into a series of aloof and distant images. But as Aaron Bogart writes in his recent essay on Linde Busk (All In, 2012), notwithstanding their estranging features, the intrinsic humanity in these lanky and mysterious figures is so engaging that we want to know their story.
The fruit of considerable stratification, Linde Busk’s figures float within a canvas that is completely overrun by patterns, colours and superimpositions, to the point that at times they are either utterly engulfed or strangely isolated, as if suddenly caught under a spotlight turned on by chance.
Everything in Peter Linde Busk's works conveys suspense, waiting and indeterminacy, together with a sense of absolute freedom.
In line with Edward Munch's statement that "the most universal is the most private", Busk often refers to his own work as a form of self-portrait 'once removed' achieved by resorting to archetypical figures, fantastical characters and creatures that underline the relation with his own ego and its interaction with the outside world by delving into human nature and the universal issues that characterise it.
The exhibition title, No Pasarán, refers to a concept of resistance that extends beyond history, politics or the actions of external forces, into a sphere where the nature of the forces at play is far more interior.
Peter Linde Busk’s exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue with the essay “All In” written by Aaron Bogart.
Peter Linde Busk (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1973, lives and works in Berlin) Selected solo shows: 2011: 'Liste', Basel, Rob Tufnell Gallery; 'Currahee', Rob Tufnell at Sutton Lane 1, London; 2010 'Bold as a lunatic troupe of demons in drunken parade’, Christina Wilson Gallery, Copenhagen; 2007: 'Peter Linde Busk', Ancient and Modern, London; 2006: 'Come at the king, you best not miss', Christina Wilson Gallery, Copenhagen. Selected group shows: 2010: 'Newspeak: 'British Art Now', Saatchi Gallery, London; 'The Long Dark', curated by M. Cotton, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge; 2009: 'Studio Voltaire presents', curated by S. Mccrory, Boltelang Gallery, Zurigo.
25 February - 28 April, 2012
The roots of Peter Linde Busk’s (Copenhagen, 1973) artistic research go back a long way, to expressionist painting and to ancient techniques such as etching and woodcuts. Both the thematic content and the titles of his works derive from classic writers such as Charles Baudelaire, Rainer Maria Rilke and Arthur Rimbaud, together with contemporary masters such as David Milch and David Simon – respectively the creators of the television series ‘Deadwood’ (2004 – 2006) and ‘The Wire’ (2002-2008). Of crucial influence in the formation of Peter Linde Busk's practise is the important essay by Hans Prinzhorn entitled Artistry of the Mentally Ill (1922), considered to be the first attempt to analyse the drawings of the mentally ill in aesthetic terms rather than from a purely psychological angle.
A look at Busk's work brings to mind echoes of Medieval iconography - the emaciated, clear-cut figures we see in the apses of Romanesque churches - artfully combined with references to the art of the Cobra group. Derived from the anti-heroic portrait tradition, the work of this Danish artist brings about a mise en scène of seemingly marginal characters that are elevated to the status of absolute protagonists - crownless kings, ethereal female figures, knights with dazzling headdresses reminiscent of Napoleonic officers.
All these elements populate the apparently chaotic and surreal world of Linde Busk, in which time is crystallised into a series of aloof and distant images. But as Aaron Bogart writes in his recent essay on Linde Busk (All In, 2012), notwithstanding their estranging features, the intrinsic humanity in these lanky and mysterious figures is so engaging that we want to know their story.
The fruit of considerable stratification, Linde Busk’s figures float within a canvas that is completely overrun by patterns, colours and superimpositions, to the point that at times they are either utterly engulfed or strangely isolated, as if suddenly caught under a spotlight turned on by chance.
Everything in Peter Linde Busk's works conveys suspense, waiting and indeterminacy, together with a sense of absolute freedom.
In line with Edward Munch's statement that "the most universal is the most private", Busk often refers to his own work as a form of self-portrait 'once removed' achieved by resorting to archetypical figures, fantastical characters and creatures that underline the relation with his own ego and its interaction with the outside world by delving into human nature and the universal issues that characterise it.
The exhibition title, No Pasarán, refers to a concept of resistance that extends beyond history, politics or the actions of external forces, into a sphere where the nature of the forces at play is far more interior.
Peter Linde Busk’s exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue with the essay “All In” written by Aaron Bogart.
Peter Linde Busk (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1973, lives and works in Berlin) Selected solo shows: 2011: 'Liste', Basel, Rob Tufnell Gallery; 'Currahee', Rob Tufnell at Sutton Lane 1, London; 2010 'Bold as a lunatic troupe of demons in drunken parade’, Christina Wilson Gallery, Copenhagen; 2007: 'Peter Linde Busk', Ancient and Modern, London; 2006: 'Come at the king, you best not miss', Christina Wilson Gallery, Copenhagen. Selected group shows: 2010: 'Newspeak: 'British Art Now', Saatchi Gallery, London; 'The Long Dark', curated by M. Cotton, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge; 2009: 'Studio Voltaire presents', curated by S. Mccrory, Boltelang Gallery, Zurigo.