12 Mar 2010

Kristofer Hultenberg at Henningsen Contemporary, Copenhagen

Kristofer Hultenberg: The Influential Monkey / paintings
13 March - 9 April, 2010

For the show The Influential Monkey, Kristofer Hultenberg has chosen a somewhat alternative way, to put his formally stringent paintings into perspective. This has been done with the aid of an angry little monkey he drew last September, which during the working process has been acting as an embodiment of the 'spirit' of the exhibited paintings. Hereby Hultenberg reveals aspects of the artistic process rarely displayed in exhibition contexts. Mainly intended as a private note to the artist, the drawing is not physically a part of the exhibition. However, the title of the show and a short text written by the artist, ensure that the monkey is at the forefront of audience's consciousness, ultimately influencing the interpretation of the abstract works.

Although an extension of concrete painting, Hultenbergs works refuse to settle within this category. The visual language is objective and rational, but the clarity characteristic of the form is not present within the content. Silence and intentional confusion prevail. Hultenberg is specifically interested in situations which arises when the most irrational ideas are realized decisively. By allowing these types of ideas an unreasonably large expressive emphasis, Hultenberg wants to make evident the staggering number of options the white surface of a canvas reflects. In his catalogue text 'The Monkey´s' Influence' he comment his work: 'What pleases me is that I, in the quivering array of possibilities - this fantastic grey pulp of possible conditions that we humans occupy - can separate some things; pictorial elements, formal languages, attitudes that in the mind allow themselves to be combined into what, to me, are completely unexpected situations. The visible potential is incomprehensible. And every pictorial utterance that really appears unexpectedly reflects this potential. I am its gaping spectator.'

Kristofer Hultenberg is born 1971, in Lund, Sweden. He lives and works in Copenhagen. His practice consists of paintings, drawings and artist´s books. In 2008 his latest book 'A Drawing is an Unsafe Environment' was published, at Revolver - Archiv für aktuelle Kunst'.