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Jan Christensen

Exhibition duration:    November 14 – December 20, 2013 


Jan Christensen (born 1977) has been showing at Gerhardsen Gerner Berlin since 2002. It is with great pleasure that we announce his first solo exhibition in Oslo.

Since the beginning of his career, Jan Christensen has taken an experimental approach to artistic practice, with a wide range of references, whether in art, design, architecture, music and society in general. His work ranges from large-scale installations and wall paintings to paintings on canvas, sculpture, sound installations, photography, video and light art. In his artistic practice, Christensen responds not only to discourses in art, but also to the broader field of creative media, and aims to discuss and reveal the different processes involved and the development of his works. The versatility of his practice has also led Christensen to various activities beyond the limited possibilities of gallery spaces and museums. Thus, alongside his extraordinary compositions intended for exhibition, he has also realized a variety of projects in the public sphere. His projects for public space are often characterized by ideas that refer to specific sites, producing authentic works of art, which have contributed to his expanded artistic practice in recent years.

For the exhibition in Oslo, Jan Christensen conceives an experimental body of painting, which reflects his earlier approaches to painting within the gallery space. Again, Christensen places a particular focus on the creative process itself. On one hand, he responds to preconditions of the gallery architecture, and on the other, he takes a playful approach to his own work. By undertaking a painterly conquest of the gallery space he produces a unique spatial composition that takes the viewer into a shimmering scenario that seems to move beyond preconceived ideas.

Jan Christensen, born in Copenhagen, lives and works in Berlin and Oslo. His work has been acquired by institutions such as the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo and the National Museum of Art, Norway. Many of his large-scale projects can be found in private collections, corporate enterprises and public collections. Recent exhibitions include the re-opening of the Astrup Fearnley Museum at Tjuvholmen in Oslo (To Be with Art is All We Ask), Galleri F15 (with Anders Fjøsne), Jeløya, public art projects with Marius Dahl in Trondheim, Oslo, Skien, Porsgrunn, Drammen and Hamar, Momentum 7, Moss, Høstutstillingen (with Are Blytt), Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo and the current exhibition Proto_Light at Artclub 1563 in Seoul which was curated by Lee Jiyoon and Kim Sung Won. His forthcoming solo-exhibition in 2014 at Viborg Kunsthal (Denmark) is curated by Helene Nyborg Bay. He is also involved with scenography for an upcoming play by Mona Banterla Grenna, Nelly Winterhalder and Øystein U. Brager, in addition to ongoing work as an adviser to the committee on acquisitions of public art for KORO (Public Art Norway). He is a member of the committee of the Sparebankstiftelsen DNB art award, which will be announced November 20 for the award exhibition at Oslo Kunstforening. Successively, November 25, he will install another interactive audio installation in collaboration with Anders Fjøsne for the project “One Night Only” at Kunstnernes Hus.

For further information, please contact Marina Gerner–Mathisen, Gerhardsen Gerner, Oslo: marina@gerhardsengerner.com, T: +47 21 91 01 91, opening hours Wed–Fri 12–5pm, Sat 12–4pm

or Eva Dominique Wenzel, Gerhardsen Gerner, Berlin, dominique@gerhardsengerner.com, T: +49 30 69 51 83 41, opening hours Wed–Sat 11am–6pm or visit our website at http://www. gerhardsengerner.com

 

Review (Norwegian): Bjerke, Mona Pahle "Kunstanmeldelse: Jan Christensen", NRK P2/Kulturnytt, Nov. 15, 2013 [Link]
Review (Norwegian): Bjerke, Øyvind Storm "Spenstig og sofistikert formlek", Klassekampen, Nov. 20, pp. 28-29 [Link]

 

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