Theis Wendt

Born 1981 / DENMARK

THEIS WENDT
BORN 1981 / DENMARK / LIVES AND WORKS IN COPENHAGEN

EDUCATION:

2002-2008:
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen DK
2001-2002: Contemporary Art Practice, Metáfora Centro d'Art Contemporany, Barcelona, ES

EXHIBITIONS:

2012:
Huset i Skoven, Skovhuset, Værløse DK
Smudge, Minuit Vernissage, Copenhagen DK

2011:
Phantasm, Ringssted galleriet, Ringssted DK
Frozen Reflection, NLH-Space, Copenhagen DK
Gray Trampled Grass. Gray Snow, Gallery Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen, DK
3rd Party, Beaver Projects, Copenhagen DK
Summertime, Gallery Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen DK
Ok Corral, Toves Contemporary Gallery, Copenhagen DK
Return of the Losers, Kalmar Konstmuseum, Kalmar SE

2010:
Among The Hallucinations of Delirirum Tremens, Byens Kro, Copenhagen, DK
Animals That From Afar Look Like Flies, Gallery Teapot, Cologne DE
The Party 2, Beaver Projects, Copenhagen DK
Yes/No – A Subjective Definition of Synergy, Kastrupgårdsamlingen, Kastrup DK
Eyebowling, Kunstraum Warchau, Berlin DE
Dear….. part 2, Gallery David Risley, Copenhagen DK
Things That Matter A Lot, Gallery Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen DK

2009:
Our Winther Show, Gallery Steinsland Berliner, Stockholm SE
Group Hug, Volta5, Basel CH
Aktion Auktion, Kødbyen, Copenhagen DK
The Party, Beaver Project, Copenhagen DK
Business As Usual, Hanoi future art, Hanoi, Vietnam
Summertime, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen DK
More Works, with Anders Brinch, Melou Vanggaard, Project Room, GCE. Copenhagen DK
Tilvægs, Kunshal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, DK

2008:
X-mas, Gallery Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
ROOM !, Event in the public space of Istanbul - exhibited in Gallery Koh-i-noor (solo exhibition), Copenhagen
Fill in blank space, Galleri Karsi, Istanbul
The nordic art fair, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen DK
Summertime, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
EXIT08, kunstforeningen Gl strand, Copenhagen
Kort varsel, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen

2007:
X-mas, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
One with face - one without (solo exhibition), Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
Planet Brun, Galleri Brun, Dusseldorf DE
E-Building (v.kuno) Bjørgvin statsfængsel, Bergen NO
Summertime, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
Black and White show, Fung Sway, Copenhagen
Papirknald, fung sway, Copenhagen

2006:
X-mas, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
KE Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling, Den frie Udstillingsbygning, Copenhagen
Alternative art fair, Gallery Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen
Rotation, Berlin DE
Pøbel (solo exhibition) Galleri AX12, Copenhagen
Flowshow, kabine, Copenhagen
Fence, Performance at Kultorvet, Copenhagen
Fabrik Selvsving, Fabrikken for Kunst og Design, Copenhagen
Remixtheworld.com, Galleri AX12, Copenhagen
Mediamocracy, Kunstakademiets Udstillingssted Q, Copenhagen

2005:
Anden generations kunstnere, Rønne
400 m2 wall painting, Margrethehjemmet
Fairplay, Accessible 1 og 2, Råhuset, Copenhagen
Audiovisual, kunstakademiets Udstillingssted Q, Copenhagen

2004:
Thad Strode's, LA US

2003:
Habengut, Berlin DE

SELECTED GRANTS:
Akademiraadets Rejselegat
Grosserer L. F. Foghts Fond
Ida Blix Fonden
Statens Kunstråds Produktionsstøtte
Statens Kunstfonds Billedkunstneriske Arbejdslegat
Solar Fonden af 1978
Inger og Åge Nielsens legat
Frøken Marie Månssons Legatet

CURATED SHOWS:
Post Hip Hop, Mohs Exhibit, Copenhagen DK, 2010

ART FAIRS:
Volta5, Basel, Switzerland CH
The nordic art fair, Copenhagen DK
Alternative-Cph, Copenhagen, DK
Istanbul Contemporary Artfair, TU

PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS:
Københavns Billedeudvalg, Copenhagen DK
TrygVesta, Ballerup DK
Novo Nordisk, Søborg DK

RESIDENCIES:
Statens Værksteder for Kunst og Håndværk, Copenhagen DK, 2011
Statens Værksteder for Kunst og Håndværk, Copenhagen DK, 2010
Hanoi Future Art, Hanoi, VE 2009

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
New Danish Art 2011, published by Kopenhagen.dk
Visavis, Copenhagen DK 2011
Preview of the exhibition Gray Trampled Grass. Gray Snow by Michael Jeppesen, Dagbladet Information, Copenhagen Dk 2011
Shapeshifter, Copenhagen DK 2011
Bitch Slap Magazine, Copenhagen DK 2010
Dagbladet Information, Copenhagen DK 2010
Group Hug, Copenhagen DK. 2009
Til Vægs, Charlottenborg Kunsthal, Copenhagen DK. 2009
Kætteren, by Jesse Jacob, Copenhagen DK. 2008
Pigeon magazine, by Aphex, Copenhagen DK. 2006

STATEMENT
Theis Wendt graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2008. All through his studies at the Academy he worked within a wide spectre of media ranging from drawing, painting and sculpture to installation, performance and social interventions. With an immense feeling for the special attributes and communicative qualities of the media in hand, he allows his works to materialize in strong harmony with the aesthetic expression and the theoretic setting. Challenging, his work invites the spectator not only to visual enjoyment but also to active reading.

Theis Wendt’s works turn hum-drum ordinary elements inside out and put our conventional perception of reality to the test. Juxtaposing opposites inside the works, the artist declares war on jogtrot hierarchic structures and opens up to new ways of thinking and understanding a given subject. Artistic idioms appear effortlessly intuitive, and the works continuously find themselves left in suspense between the controlled and the uncontrolled. Altogether, the heterogeneous works emit an energy that can be seen as critical, political, decorative and abstract, but most often the focus is on their openness towards their observer. Insisting on doubt and error as providers of potential, the works show strength of character in untouched surfaces and crossed out or blurred motifs and figures. ’The holes’ or ’the veiled’ lead the beholder to a perception where the narrative elements in the works can be completed or slumber in eternal uncertainty, providing the beholder with an interesting potential to generate unforeseen coherence, which in the end may give birth to the thought of something new.

Main artist image: