The exhibition WHAT’S LEFT (IS REPUBLICAN PAINT) – NINE SISTERS presents almost 100 works, old and new, by the Danish artist Claus Carstensen (b. 1957). The expressive and confrontational works include paintings, sculptures, photography and murals, as well as a new, custom-made carpet. The 9 themes of the exhibition – or ‘sisters’ as the artist calls them – address issues like freedom of expression, totalitarianism, intimacy and nakedness, and encompass the vast number of media and materials Claus Carstensen has worked with over the past 36 years.

TRASHY AND WILD

As one of the ‘Young and Wild’ artists who caused a major stir on the Danish art scene with the 1982 exhibition Kniven på hovedet (‘The Knife on Its Head’), Claus Carstensen has become one of Denmark’s most significant contemporary artists. Together with Michael Kvium, Christian Lemmerz, Peter Bonde and other prominent artists of the 1980s who have previously exhibited at ARoS, Claus Carstensen paved the way for a brutal yet conceptual and expressive form of painting. Claus Carstensen consciously uses disparate materials. Like a visual DJ he samples visual fragments, computer generates or twists and distorts his images in other ways. Carstensen has constantly renewed his expressive style. The principal work Æterlegeme (Ethereal Body) from 1986, for example, was made using foam rubber, urine, alkyd and oil paint, rags and axle grease. In addition, many of his works have been created in collaboration with others, including his daughter Zoe, the art group Superflex, and graffiti artists or sign writers.

A BRUTAL, THOUGHT-PROVOKING EXHIBITION

Claus Carstensen’s oeuvre reflects his persistence in putting social and political issues on the agenda. In the series Pavilion of The Naked he depicts the Cambodian torture victims of the Khmer Rouge regime, and in a series of defacings, like the iconoclasts he modifies, paints over or disfigures existing images by, for example, cutting a hole in a painting of the Libyan ruler from 1969-2011, Colonel Gaddafi.

On a more personal note, WHAT’S LEFT (IS REPUBLICAN PAINT) – NINE SISTERS presents selected works from the series Untitled Room for Zoe, which Carstensen has created with his daughter Zoe since 1994. Claus Carstensen has involved Zoe in his artistic practice since she was two years old, painting images with her, copying her images, or incorporating them in his own works. 

The artist himself says that encountering his works at ARoS will be “like being hit in the face with a visual baseball bat.” With these words in mind, everyone who visits ARoS from May 30^th - October 18^th 2015 can look forward to a brutal, thought-provoking exhibition – Claus Carstensen’s largest solo exhibition to date.

The exhibition CLAUS CARSTENSEN / WHAT’S LEFT (IS REPUBLICAN PAINT) – NINE SISTERS is open from 30.05.2015 – 18.10. 2015 in the special exhibition gallery and foyer on the first floor of ARoS.

Claus Carstensen

Claus Carstensen (f. 1957) er født og opvokset i Sønderborg. Han er uddannet på Det Kgl. Danske Kunstakademi i København i perioden 1977-83. I årene 1993-2002 var han professor samme sted. Han tilhører firsergenerationen De Unge Vilde. Han har hovedsageligt beskæftiget sig med mediet maleri, men installationskunst, fotografi og vægudsmykninger udgør også en del af hans praksis. Claus Carstensens værker er kendetegnet ved en kritisk og samfundsorienteret tilgang. I 2004 modtog han Eckersbergs Medalje.

Katalog

I forbindelse med udstillingen udgiver ARoS et stort katalog med værkillustrationer, interview af museumsinspektør Maria Kappel Blegvad samt tekster af kunstnerne Gudrun Hasle, Nils Erik Gjerdevik og Ferdinand Ahm Krag.