Nudes (082)

The show marks Reyle’s third solo exhibition at the gallery and the return of the German artist to Denmark after an acclaimed exhibition at ARKEN Museum of Modern Art in 2011. Anselm Reyle is largely known for his interest in experimenting with a wide range of techniques, employing traditional media alongside industrial scraps, colored foils, found neons, automotive lacquer, and nonetheless items from our every day’s life in the form of objet-trouvés. By removing these materials from their original context and altering their once-defined function, Reyle masters the vocabulary and formulas of appropriation to create immersive installations, sculptures and paintings. In the spontaneity of its language, the work of Reyle challenges the primarily sublime ideal of abstraction, as addressed by the modes of modernism, by drifting in direction of a seemingly provocative orientation towards what is generally regarded as kitsch. The viewer is engaged to re-think each individual element in their newly acquired context – an ambivalent tension which unobtrusively emphasizes the discrepancy between the subject matter and its visual representation. Spanning across the entirety of the gallery is a large installation that Reyle has specifically realized to interact with Andersen’s space. A seemingly fragile composition consisting of a multitude of colored neon tubes stretches from the side walls and floor of the white cube architecture to reach the altitude of the ceiling where an accumulation of neon-elements floats distinctively in the air. The fluorescent tubes irradiate the room with a wide range of bright colors while fragments of neon elements in the form of letters or symbols primarily assimilated from Pop culture playfully engage the viewer’s eye. By drawing in the space, Reyle creates a delicate and thought-provoking composition that critically expands upon what is innately perceived stereotypical and banal.