Bjarne Melgaard (b. 1967)

CONTEMPORARY ART AT THE TURN OF THE MILLENNIUM: A SELECTION OF WORKS FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION

A collection of contemporary art exploring contemporary horizons of painting, photography, and the intersections between the two. From the poetic Abstract Expressionist inheritance of Jimmie Durham and Bjarne Melgaard to the cool architectural eye of Candida Höfer, the collection bears witness to a carefully curated spectrum of international postmodern imagery. The conceptual camerawork of Thomas Demand sits potently alongside photography translated to painting in the work of Koen van den Broek; the philosophical poise of acclaimed Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco offsets Kyle Thurman’s joyful alchemy of flower pigments. Highlighting the collection’s technological edge, Michael Riedel’s serigraphy investigates the inner workings of a Powerpoint slideshow, capturing the essence of the moment between clicks, while Darren Almond tracks time and space through a photographic performance piece. Similarly process-oriented is the tight sequential minimalism of Nathan Hylden, following strict cinematographic codes. The vibrant worlds of modern image production and reproduction are appraised in vivid variety, unified by a keen sense of pictorial power.

Painted in 2009, Untitled is a sumptuous example of Bjarne Melgaard’s painterly abstractions. Heir to the provocative brand of neo-expressionism championed by artists such as Albert Oehlen and Martin Kippenberger, Melgaard’s paintings represent a sophisticated extension of the installations and sculptures with which he made his name in the early 2000s. One of Norway’s most important contemporary artists, Melgaard has achieved widespread critical recognition over the past decade, with exhibitions at the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2013) and the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2012). ‘I’m very interested in the idea that you don’t observe a painting but the painting is observing you’, he explains. ‘When you have one of my paintings at home it also observes your life’ (B. Melgaard, interview with F. Gavin, ‘Q&A/Art: Bjarne Melgaard’, in Dazed Digital, September 2013). His works are held in international collections including the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo and S.M.A.K., Ghent.