Claus Carstensen / What's Left (is Republican Paint) - Nine Sisters

An exhibition about freedom of expression, intimacy and nudity

The exhibition WHAT'S LEFT (IS REPUBLICAN PAINT) - NINE SISTERS presents around 100 works, old and new, by Danish artist Claus Carstensen (b. 1957). The expressive and very direct works include painting, sculpture, photography and wall decorations as well as a new custom-made carpet. The exhibition's 9 thematic strands, or "sisters" as the artist calls them, revolve around topics such as freedom of expression, totalitarianism, intimacy and nudity. As a whole, the exhibition reflects the myriad of media and materials that Claus Carstensen has worked with over the past 36 years.

As one of the Young Wild Ones who caused a stir in 1982 with the exhibition Kniven på hovedet, Claus Carstensen is today one of the most important Danish artists. Together with Michael Kvium, Christian Lemmerz, Peter Bonde and other prominent Eighties artists previously shown at ARoS, Claus Carstensen helped pave the way for a raw and at the same time conceptual and expressive painting. Claus Carstensen deliberately uses disparate materials, samples different visual material, computer generates or otherwise twists and distorts his subjects. He has constantly managed to renew his idiom. For example, his main work Ethereal Body from 1986 is made of foam rubber, urine, alkyd and oil colours, rags and machine grease. In addition, many of his works have been created in collaboration with others, including his daughter Zoe, the artist group Superflex, a graffiti artist or a sign painter.

Claus Carstensen insists on putting socially relevant topics up for debate. In his series Pavilion of The Naked, he depicts Cambodian torture victims during the Khmer Rouge dictatorship, and in a series of "defacings" he has joined the ranks of iconoclasts in modifying, painting over or mutilating existing motifs, for example by cutting a hole in a painting of the Libyan leader from 1969-2011, al-Gaddafi.

Claus Carstensen himself has said that encountering his works at ARoS will be "like getting a visual baseball bat to the head". With these words, anyone who chooses to visit ARoS between 30 May and 18 October 2015 can look forward to a raw exhibition with food for thought - an exhibition that will be Claus Carstensen's largest to date. In the more private category, the exhibition WHAT'S LEFT (IS REPUBLICAN PAINT) - NINE SISTERS features selected works from the series Untitled Room for Zoe, which Claus Carstensen has created with his daughter Zoe since 1994. Since Zoe was 2 years old, Claus Carstensen has included her in his work process. He has painted pictures with her, copied her images or incorporated them into his art.

Claus Carstensen (b. 1957) was born and raised in Sønderborg. He was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1977-83. In the years 1993-2002 he was a professor at the same place. He belongs to the eighties generation De Unge Vilde. He has mainly worked with the medium of painting, but installation art, photography and wall decorations also form part of his practice. Claus Carstensen's works are characterised by a critical and socially oriented approach. In 2004 he received the Eckersberg Medal.

In connection with the exhibition, ARoS is publishing a large catalogue with work illustrations, interviews with curator Maria Kappel Blegvad and texts by artists Gudrun Hasle, Nils Erik Gjerdevik and Ferdinand Ahm Krag.

Vilhelm Kiers Fond

Beckett-Fonden

Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond

KrogagerFonden

Statens Kunstfon

Ege

Isover Saint-Gobain