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1 fruehsorge Galerie für Zeichnung Jesper Christiansen DRAWING VOLUMES > Intro > Vol. I > Vol. II > Vol. III > Vol. IV > Vol. V > Info >

2 VOLUME + - A Text by Jesper Christiansen In 1976 I was playing the guitar and writing some songs in an unknown danish rockband. At the time you were supposed to write the lyrics exclusively in Danish because that was the trend among the big Danish bands. When we were planning to do a record and talking about going worldwide, everybody told me that I had to write the lyrics in English because I had to think of the new big audience. So I sang a couple of songs in English or rather in Danish/English and it sounded terrible but somehow more ethnic than when we were singing in Danish. It was a kind of bastard language. I always found the bastard language a more honest expression than the trendy Danish, so here I go again, writing in English. Sometimes the best way to express yourself is through a media that you don t control perfectly. So I thought it would be a good way to look at these drawings if I was doing it in English. I have become a true lover of drawings (10 years ago I started a collection of international contemporary drawings). Unfortunately the feelings did not include my own drawings as I never considered myself a draftsman neither in hand nor in mind. In a way my dealing with drawing is a mix of personal (private) observations and some kind of tribute to a lot of my drawing heroes; Paul Klee, Helmuth Federle, Barry Le Va, Agnes Martin, Robert Gober, Brice Marden and Tony Smith. I use drawing to distillate all available information in my surroundings without making it an intellectual problem, but trying to catch it in a visual contradiction. The problem with too much available information is that you can spend a lot of time and energy on looking up all the facts that you know you can find. If the information is not available you can concentrate on what you re doing right now. In the same way, when you are not a good draftsman there are a lot things you cannot do, so you have to concentrate on what you are actually able to. That is the interesting thing about drawing because it is so close to writing, and writing is close to thinking, and thinking is close to feeling, and feeling is very close to being. The mere act of drawing can stem you in a spiritual mood. So these drawings are not done with the audience in mind, neither as private sketches, not even as sketches or plans for bigger works. They are simply things that had to be. Sometimes I think I would have made them even if I hadn t been a painter. I don t have a good visual memory and I always thought that this lack of ability was the best reason for getting up in the morning and doing yet another drawing. It seems to me that I have a need for visual stimuli in my life, since I keep on producing and looking at visual objects. 2 Jesper Christiansen Drawing Volumes Intro < < > >

3 3 Jesper Christiansen Drawing Volumes Vol. I Untitled, 280 x 231mm, mixed media on paper, 1989 < < > >

4 4 Jesper Christiansen Drawing Volumes Vol. II Untitled, 29,6 x 21, mixed media on paper, 1986 < < > >

5 5 Jesper Christiansen Drawing Volumes Vol. III Untitled, 28 x 23, watercolor on paper, 1997 < < > >

6 6 Jesper Christiansen Drawing Volumes Vol. IV Untitled, 25,2 x 18, watercolor on paper < < > >

7 7 Jesper Christiansen Drawing Volumes Vol. V Untitled, 31,9 x 27,8, pencil/watercolor on paper, 2000 < < > >

8 Drawing Volumes. Jesper Christiansen Sabine Bartelsheim Jasper Johns not only drew extensively himself, he also collected drawings by fellow artists. In an interview he once remarked that especially the modesty and thoughtfulness of drawings appealed to him 1. Unencumbered by the mental and physical strain that often weigh on great works, drawings allow the artist to concentrate on the simple and reflexive aspects of producing images.jesper Christiansen's drawings are such 'small,' drawn reflections. For a long time they remained hidden from the public eye; Christiansen has made a name for himself largely through his paintings. Only recently has the extensive body of drawings Christiansen has produced since the 1980s become accessible to the public.christiansen's drawings and paintings both reveal the same basic interest. Christiansen has remarked that what fascinates him most about painting is the potential of a painting itself an object in space to create its own space 2. This preoccupation with space is an expression of Christiansen's intense interest in Minimal Art. However, while the Minimalists focused on the spatial qualities of simple geometric shapes, color, and surfaces, Christiansen grapples with space in an in-between zone that includes figurative elements. Like his paintings, his drawings are often centered on banal, everyday motifs such as furniture, articles of clothing, greenhouses, and windows. On the one hand, these refer directly to our visual experience; on the other hand, they are placed directly into pictorial space as meaning-neutral shapes. The principle according to which Christiansen shapes this space is based on the strange logic of this contradiction. He combines and fuses different visual vocabularies that each organize space according to their own rules. The vocabulary of figurative representation, one of whose main instruments is creating the illusion of perspective, enters into an alliance with abstract forms of composition. The images alternate between the figurative and the abstract, and between the corresponding two poles of spatial organization. Their elements oscillate between surface and depth; they open up and confine space(s); at times they seem to come forward, only to retreat again behind transparent layers of color; there is both abundance and emptiness, in alternation. Each drawing deals with one or more of these spatial themes. Flat bands come together to form a grid that surrounds an imaginary volume. We gaze through a series of open windows, one behind the other, onto light, rectangular areas that are suggestive of spatial depth while at the same time seeming to obstruct our view. Here pictorial space proves to be eccentric and absurd, defying rational explanation. Christiansen not only draws on different artistic vocabularies in a general sense, he also borrows specific ones from particular artists. He subordinates these direct references to and 'quotations' from art history to the contradictory spirit of his own imagery. Red squares attached to a bed recall Malevitch. 8

9 Abstract shapes and lines shimmering through from the depths of the light-colored background are reminiscent of a Mondrian composition. Links are forged between abstract art and the figurative representation that it had once renounced. Geometric shapes, which had served to convey intellectual and spiritual content, are reunited with the material world a world that, thanks to the schematic shape and delicate lines of the bed, itself seems immaterial. With their patterns of rectangle, Christiansen's early drawings of walls already reveal his interest in patterns and ornament structures. Not least due to the work of many younger artists, general awareness of the significance of ornament in art is again on the rise. The ornament is close to the abstract image, yet it is ambivalent. An ornament is a pattern on a background that can be described as figurative or abstract, as the stylized representation of real shapes or the expression of spiritual concepts. Thus ornament can be considered intermediate between figurative representation and the abstract, "effectively lending the history of abstraction, which until now has been regarded as unidirectional, a reversible aspect." That Christiansen incorporates patterns and ornament into his work almost goes without saying. The spatial aspects of ornament lie in its classic function as the surface of threedimensional objects as well as in the dichotomy of background and pattern. In addition to integrating these two aspects, Christiansen's drawings allow patterns to enter into new spatial relationships. One of the drawings is a reference to the hatching used by Jasper Johns in some of his work. This, in turn, was inspired by a fabric pattern in a self-portrait by Edvard Munch and resembles a stylized representation of the fingers of a handprint 3. In Christiansen's drawing, the pattern of lines is interrupted by white areas that allow us to see through to the base but also coalesce into independent shapes of their own. Naturally, pattern commands a special place in the field of textile design, where it is not merely surface, but integrally interwoven with the object itself. A transparent black grid is characteristic of the wit of many of Christiansen's drawings; it can be read as a geometric 'pattern sans pants' hovering over a background which itself consists of numerous layers. Patterns also frequently enter into relationships with architectural elements. A floral pattern appears on the facade of a greenhouse, a band of red thrusting into a nebulous field of gray. Here, as in many other drawings, watercolor is the main medium. This technique allows for semi-transparent layers of color which create their own spatial effects. Furthermore, watercolor, as a liquid, is impossible to control completely, a fact that lends the pictures an element of chance and a certain animation. Closely related to the topic of space is that of music, in which sound expands in space relative to volume. 9

10 Music has developed its own visual languages - systems of notation that are reminiscent of abstract shapes. And, indeed, abstract artists in particular have tried to arrange shapes and colors, liberated as they are from the figurative object, according to musical principles. Many abstract artists have been drawn to the spiritual aspects of music and to the fact that it is not bound to material reality. With Christiansen, the object returns and musical spirituality merges with visual materiality. Like so many individual notes, red shapes perch on black rows of chairs, which can be construed as the visual representation of musical rhythms. Words provide an additional dimension of sound, as well as introducing yet another, third type of vocabulary into the images. As if cut out of a larger picture, a close-up image of rhythmic rows of chairs also contains many words that refer to music literally. The kind of music thus translated into visual terms is one that takes advantage of the creative potential of chance and 'mistakes.' Splotches of color, dribbles of paint, diagonal lines, and other irregularities serve to emphasize the random nature of this musicas-space. Here art follows the same principle as 'blind' Nature. Errors in the transmission of data lead to a plethora of new information. Most of this is of no consequence for evolution, but its impact on the complexity of natural forms is enormous. Nature, to quote Vilém Flusser, throws the dice "quite without method, according to blind chance." 5 Christiansen, however, introduces imperfections into his pictures quite deliberately. Controlled coincidence and thinking in contradictions create space where ideas can take root. Christiansen's drawings, in particular, with their sketch-like and spontaneous quality, take full advantage of this. The images are 'meaningless' in the strict sense of the word; it is the strategy behind the work as a whole that gives them meaning. 1 Jasper Johns in an interview with Ruth Fine and Nan Rosenthal (1989), quoted from Jasper Johns, Interviews, Statements, Skizzenbuchnotizen, published by Gregor Stemmrich, Dresden 1997, p See. Jesper Christiansen. Rear Window, Galleri Hummeluhre, _rhus Markus Brüderlin (ed.): Ornament und Abstraktion. Kunst der Kulturen, Moderne und Gegenwart im Dialog, Kat. Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Cologne 2001, p See Philippe Büttner, in: ibid., p Vilém Flusser, Ins Universum der technischen Bilder, Göttingen 1985, p. 98. Jesper Christiansen himself refers to Flusser in: Kat. Hus & Have Malerier, Galerie Møllerwitt

11 Jesper Christiansen Born 1955 in, Education at The Royal Academy of Solo exhibitions (selected) 1985 Den Vej Ting Falder; Trods Alt, Galleri Kongo, Den Gennemsentimentale Rejse, Galleri Basilisk, 1986 Galerie Nørballe, Ringsted Galleriet, Ringsted, Galleri Abildgaard, 1988 Galleri Gari, 1989 Galleri Gari, 1990 Galleri Lång, Malmø, Sweden 1991 Galleri Arcticus, London 1991 Skive Museum, 1992 Horsens Kunstmuseum, 1992 Galerie Mikael Andersen, Ribe Kunstmuseum, 1993 Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde, Esbjerg Kunstmuseum, 1994 Politikens Hus, 1995 Galerie Mikael Andersen, DCA Gallery, New York, USA 1996 Hjørring Kunstmuseum, Hjørring, 1997 DCA Gallery, New York, USA Bannister Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island, USA 1998 Galerie MøllerWitt, Sønderborg, Galerie Mikael Andersen, 1998 Fyns Kunstmuseum, Odense, 2000 DCA Gallery, New York, USA Galleri Hummeluhre, Århus, 2001 Hostrup, Pedersen & Johansen, Haderslev Museum, Haderslev, DCA Gallery, New York, USA Galerie Mikael Andersen, Christoffersen Art, 2002 Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany Trapholt, Kolding, Bornholms Kunstmuseum, Rønne, 2003 Drawings, Galerie Mikael Andersen, 11

12 Group exhibitions (selected) 1981 Svendborg Amts Kunstforening, Svendborg, Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling, Den Frie, 1982 Rådskælderen, Charlottenborg, Fy & FY, Galleri Sub - Set, 1983 Gentlemen Ikke For Hurtigt, w. Thomas Skytte, Atelierexhibition, 1984 Gud og Grammatik, Charlottenborg, Galleri Sct. Agnes, w. Claus Jørgensen, Roskilde, 1985 Ung Nordisk Kulturfestival, Skeppsholmen, Stockholm, Sweden 1986 Gentofte Kunstbibliotek, w. Søren Jensen, 1987 Galleri Marz, Efterårsudstillingen, Charlottenborg, Il Poeta Malato, Rom, Italy 1988 Niveau, Brandts Klædefabrik, Kunsthallen, Odense, 1988 Engle i Sct. Agnes, Galleri Sct. Agnes, Roskilde, 1989 Niveau, Galleri Lång, Malmø, Sweden Gæster i Stalke, Galleri Stalke, Stockholm Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden 1990 Gallery Arcticus, London, England Kitsch & Konkret, Kunstforeningen af 1990, Rendez-vous, Nordisk Kunstcentrum, Sveaborg, Finland Terskel, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo, Norway Nordic Art Exhibition, Charlottenborg, Det Flydende Rum, Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum, Sorø, 5me Exposition Internationale, Culdes-Sarts, Belgium 1991 Art Against AIDS, Galleri Lång, Malmø, Sweden 1991 Vor Tid, Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum, Ovengaden, 1991 Sammenstillinger, Galerie Mikael Andersen, 1992 Holdepunkter, Museet for Samtidskunst,Oslo, Norway Flag, Hollerups Kunsthandel, Juleudstilling, Galerie Mikael Andersen, 1993 Gemak Galerie Mikael Andersen Art Fair, Forum, (w. Galerie Mikael Andersen) 1994 Sommerudstilling, w. Isa Genzken, Günther Förg, Imi Knoebel, Hubert Kiecol, Claus Carstensen, Leonard Forslund, Øjvind Nygård, Galerie Mikael Andersen, Danish artists, DCA Gallery, New York, USA 1995 Esbjerg Kunstmuseum besøger Sophienholm, Kgs. Lyngby, 12

13 Group exhibitions (selected) 1995 Norwegian and International Art, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo, Norway Mennesket i Centrum, Nationalmuseet, Contemporary Danish Art, National Gallery, Beijing, China Statens Kunstfond, Charlottenborg, Art Against Aids, Galerie Mikael Andersen & Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Frederiks Bastion, 1996 Out of, The South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa Den Fries Forårsudstilling, Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, Kap Det Gode Håb, Galerie Mikael Andersen, 1996 King Size, w. Stig Brøgger, Peter Mandrup, Ivar Tønsberg, Tidsrum Maleri, 1996 Drawings, DCA Gallery, New York, USA 1997 American Art Today; The Garden, The Art Museum, Miami, USA Memento Metropolis, Hessenhuis, Antwerp, Belgium Paint Space, Galleri Phoenix, Museum Danmark, Arken, I Modernismens Labyrint, Esbjerg Kunstmuseum, Esbjerg, De Skjulte Billeder; Tendenser i Dansk Kunst, Arken, Galerie MøllerWitt, Sønderborg Home Sweet Home, Galerie Mikael Andersen, 1998 Byen, Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde, Farvel til 80 erne, Århus Kunstmuseum, Århus, Memento Metropolis, Kulturfabriken, Liljeholmen, Stockholm, Sverige 1998 Keramik fra Kähler, Galerie Mikael Andersen, (w. P. Arnoldi and Günther Förg) 1999 Den Foruroligende Stilhed, Vejle Kunstmuseum, små billeder små skulpturer og møbeldesign, Galleri Hummeluhre, Århus, Malerkrukker, Bornholms Kunstmuseum, (w. Per Arnoldi and Günther Förg) Carnegie Art Award, Carnegie, Stockholm 2000 Noget om tegninger, Galerie Mikael Andersen, Something about painting, DCA Gallery, New York, USA Fyns Kunstmuseum, Odense, 2001 Holiday Inc. Pakhuset Nykøbing Sjælland Mønstring: Fra Objekt til Arabesk, Kunsthallen Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense 13

14 Publications 1984 Drei Mal Touristen, drawings, Krasnapolsky, (soloexhib.) Xerografi, Kastrupgaardsamlingen, Gud Og Grammatik, Charlottenborg, 1985 Den vej tingene falder; Trods Alt, drawings and texts, Kongo, (soloexhib.) Den Gennemsentimentale Rejse, drawings and texts Basilisk, (soloexhib.) Ung Nordisk Kulturfestival, Stockholm, Sweden 1986 Jesper Christiansen og Søren Jensen, Gentofte Kunstbibliotek, 1987 Sene Sonderinger, Kunstakademiet, 1988 Nye Malerier, Galleri Gari, (soloexhib.) Himmelgåden, Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, 1988 København/Stockholm, Kunstakademiet, 1989 Den Danske Radeerforening, member publication, 1989 Billedstorm, Amadeus, me Exposition Internationale, Belgium Kitch & Konkret, Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, Rendez-vous, Nordisk Kunstcentrum, Finland Terskel, Threshold, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo, Norway 1991 Resumé, Skive, Horsens og Ribe Kunstmuseer, (soloexhib.) 1992 Udendørs Stuearrest, Galleri Sølvberget, (soloexhib.) 1993 Skiltemalerier, Galerie Mikael Andersen, (soloexhib.) 1995 Notemalerier, DCA Gallery, New York, & Gal. Mikael Andersen, (soloexhib.) 1995 Esbjerg Kunstmuseum besøger Sophienholm, Sophienholm, Kgs. Lyngby, Memento Metropolis,, Antwerp, Stockholm Articles 1989 Billedstorm, Amadeus,, by Poul Erik Tøjner og Frederik Stjernfelt 1991 Flash Art no. 157, Beyond the National Dream, by Peter S. Meyer 1993 Kritik no. 104, Gyldendal, Tre tekster om et billede af Jesper Christiansen, by Elo Nielsen, Anne Marie Dinesen, Marianne Rosen 1996 Dansk Nutidskunst nr. 30, Fogtdals Forlag 14

15 Texts by the artist Billedet som fortalelse, Xerografi, Kastrupgaardsamlingen, 1984 Den Vej Ting Falder; Trods Alt, in a catalogue with the same titel Kongo, 1985 En dag i Atelieret, Gentofte Kunstbibliotek, 1986 Om hvordan jeg lavede nogle raderinger, Kunstakademiet, 1987 Nye Malerier, in a catalogue with the same title, Galleri Gari, 1988 Ud og kigge med Jesper C., in Himmelgåden, Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, 1988 Facts og Fiduser fra den malede virkelighed, in Kitch & Konkret Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, 1990 Modeltegninger, Dansk Radeerforenings member publication, 1989 Udendørs Stuearrest, in a catalogue with the same titel, Galleri Sølvberget, 1992 Den Døde Linse, in Efterårsudstillingen, Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, 1993 Da Capo, Blank, text for lithographic print. Den Danske Radeerforening, 1996 Udluftning. Hus & Havemalerier, Galerie MøllerWitt, Sønderborg, 1998 Ord Klynge Malerier, Ateliernoter, Galerie Mikael Andersen 2001 Et Mønster, er et Mønster, exhibition catalogue: Mønstring, Brandts Klædefabrik 2001 Represented at (selected places) Statens Kunstfond, Kastrupgaardsamlingen, Kobberstiksamlingen, Ny Carlsbergfondet, Malmö Museum Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum Radeerforeningen, Statens Museum for Kunst, Gentofte Kunstbibliotek, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo, Norway. Skive Kunstmuseum Esbjerg Kunstmuseum. Herning Kunstmuseum Århus Kunstmuseum Nationalmuseet, Kunst og Industrimuseet,. Gentofte Kunstbibliotek, DSB (Danish State Railways) Tivoli, Det Kongelige Bibliotek,. Dansk Biblioteks Center, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany 15

16 fruehsorge Galerie für Zeichnung Jan-Philipp Frühsorge Gartenstraße Berlin fon fax mail@fruehsorge.com 16