Solo Show (078)

Andersen’s Contemporary presented the first major solo exhibition in Scandinavia by Irish sculptor Kevin Francis Gray. Following his curatorial work on a group exhibition at Andersen’s earlier that spring, Gray returned to Copenhagen to re-engage with the gallery space, introducing recent works alongside a significant new installation.

The exhibition is presented across the two rooms at Andersen’s Amaliegade, each offering unique insight into the practice and new works of Kevin Francis Gray. The courtyard gallery will unveil never-before-exhibited pieces: namely, two bearded figures in marble. The stately Bearded Man who dominates in black Marquina marble is in conversation with his peer, the Bust of a Youth in white Carrara marble. Both demonstrate Gray’s mastery of the material; the control of the sculptor who effortlessly translates the suppleness of the initial clay into the hardness of the rock. On the walls hang Gray’s most recent works, from his Marble Panel series. Four small marble panels framed in oak hint at the inky lines of a sculptor’s preparatory drawing. By sculpting into stone the imagery commonly reserved for this initial stage of the process, Gray manipulates our expectations and further abstracts the corporal imagery. We catch only glimmers of a shoulder, a hip or the curve of a breast, as though the artist preserves the complete visual for himself. The illusion of the malleability of the stone matched with these hypnotising lines makes it almost irresistible not to reach out and feel them, grazing over where the artist’s hand has been before. The street-view gallery presents the monumental Maquette Table. For this installation, Gray has transported the 4x4 m artist’s working table from his London studio to the gallery. It is an invitation into the mind and process of the artist. Gray moves beyond simply sharing the materiality of his works, and exposes the vulnerability of his most intimate studio practice. With this piece, the viewer has the opportunity to step into the artist’s studio and experience every step of the idea-generating and making process, complete with experiments, failures, finished works, sketches and inspiration. A truly immersive experience, Gray hopes each viewer will find their own uniquely meaningful way to engage with the Maquette Table and its contents.