A Faint Earthly Breath by Melanie Daniel

A Faint Earthly Breath by Melanie Daniel (CA)
18 MARCH – 23 APRIL 2022, MAIN GALLERY

[UK]

Galleri Christoffer Egelund is proud to present the first solo show by Canadian painter Melanie Daniel – A FAINT EARTHLY BREATH – in the Main Gallery. At the same time, this is the beginning of our representation of the artist and we are super excited with the collaboration.

In her newest series, the artist is still delving into her idiosyncratic vision of our complicated relationship with the natural world. In recent years, Daniel has taken on the daunting subject of global climate change in a strangely oblique and highly imaginative manner. She creates futuristic narratives in which human beings struggle to reclaim their lives in the aftermath of environmental disaster or in the midst of a pandemic.

Daniel’s landscapes take on a dreamlike quality in which the figures quietly lose themselves in mutated forests or gardens. Born in British Columbia, Canada, Daniel is known for her hybrid landscapes, inspired by her own itinerant lifestyle, and by the physical progressions of modern society. She lives in Canada and Israel, and after several years in the US, with the pandemic brewing, Daniel found herself in a holding pattern of not knowing which border she could cross. The alternating absurdity and confusion associated with the pandemic, climate change, and our sense of descent into a point of no return are all alluded to by digital symbols, including already nostalgic video game icons, pixelated dinosaurs, skulls, or a “Game Over”.

A FAINT EARTHLY BREATH is a collection of oil on canvas paintings that become a mute signal to slow down, to acknowledge the fine balance between the contemporary urban experience and the natural world. All the elements that have circulated in Daniel’s oeuvre are present– a lone figure in a vast yet manic forest, vividly erupting marks, demarcations, and micro-moments that shift from then to the now with pixelated icons and graffiti. A painting is started by pouring thin stains and washes from previously used pigments and mixes from her preceding paintings. In this way, one painting grows out of the other. Daniel’s signature mark-making uses gravity to place color and form onto the canvas which she then builds upon with line and brushwork. Figures and forests morph together in fantastical, timeless spaces that feel both personal and universal.

Melanie Daniel (b. 1972) lives and works in British Columbia, Canada. Having spent many years living and creating in Jaffa, Israel, she is inspired by the multi-cultural environment of her surroundings. After the education in Canada, she completed a BFA in Fine Arts Department from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem; followed by MFA from Bezalel, Tel Aviv / Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Daniel has had numerous exhibitions internationally, including solo exhibitions at Asya Geisberg Gallery, NY, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel, Angelika Knapper Gallery, Stockholm, Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv, Ashdod Museum of Art, Israel, Shulamit Gallery, Los Angeles, Kelowna Art Gallery, BC, among others. Her work is included in collections such as the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Harvard Business School, and the Ashdod Museum of Art. Daniel is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant, the 2009 Rappaport Prize for a Young Israeli Painter, a Creative Capital Grant, and the NARS Foundation Residency in New York City. She recently completed a position as the Padnos Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Grand Valley State University, MI.

The opening of the exhibition takes place on Friday, 18th March from 16 to 19. The exhibition runs until 23rd April.

Opening hours: Wednesday-Friday 15-18, Saturday 12-16. For further information and sales requests, please contact the gallery at: hello@christofferegelund.dk or at +45 33 93 92 00. Visit us at Bredgade 75, DK-1260 Copenhagen K, Denmark.

[DK]

Hos Galleri Christoffer Egelund er vi stolte af at præsentere ’A FAINT EARTHLY BREATH’ – den første soloudstilling af canadiske kunstner Melanie Daniel. Udstillingen markerer samtidig begyndelsen på vores repræsentation af kunstneren og vi glæder os til samarbejdet.

I sin nyeste serie dykker Daniel ned i sin særegne vision af vores komplicerede forhold til naturen. Kunstneren undersøger de foruroligende globale klimaforandringer på indirekte og fantasiful vis. I sine futuristiske fortællinger viser hun, hvordan menneskene kæmper for at genvinde deres liv i slipstrømmen af miljøkatastrofer og pandemier.

Daniels landskaber besidder en drømmeagtig kvalitet, hvor figurerne stilfærdigt absorberes i muterede skovbryn og haver. I sit hjemland er Daniel kendt for sine hybride landskaber, der er inspireret af hendes nomadiske livsstil og den fysiske udvikling af det moderne samfund.
Hun er bosat i både i Canada og Israel og efter flere år i det pandemiramte USA, fandt kunstneren sig selv i en konstant venteposition, usikker på hvilke grænser hun kunne krydse. Den vekslende forvirring og absurditet, som har fulgt pandemien, klimaforandringerne og den gennemgribende følelse af, at vi nærmer os et kritisk vendepunkt, antydes i de nostalgiske ikoner fra computerspil, pixellerede dinosaurer, kranier og andre ”Game Over”-symboler.

A FAINT EARTHLY BREATH er en serie oliemalerier, som stilfærdigt opfordrer os til at sænke farten og anerkende den fine balance mellem det urbane liv og naturens kræfter. Alle elementer som tidligere har cirkuleret i Daniels Oeuvre er nu tilstede: ensomme figurer i dybe, utæmmelige skove, farvestrålende flader, flygtige grænser og tidsrum, der skifter fra dengang til nu med pixellerede ikoner og graffiti. Daniel påbegynder sine værker ved at hælde tynde opløsninger og pigmentrester fra tidligere malerier på et lærred. På den måde vokser et maleri ud af et andet. I Daniels signatur-metode anvender hun tyngdekraften til at placere form og farve på lærredet, som hun efterfølgende bearbejder med linjer og penselstrøg. Figurer og skove smelter sammen i fantastiske, anakronistiske rum, der føles både personlige og universelle.

Malanie Daniel (f. 1972) bor og arbejder i British Columbia, Canada. Hun har i mange år levet og arbejdet med sin kunst i Jaffa, Israel og hun er inspireret af multikulturelle miljøer i sine omgivelser. Efter sin uddannelse i Canada, færdiggjorde hun en BFA i Fine Arts Department ved Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem og efterfølgende en MFA from Bezalel, Tel Aviv / Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
Daniel har haft adskillelige internationale udstillinger, inklusiv soloudstillinger ved Asya Geisberg Gallery, NY, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel, Angelika Knapper Gallery, Stockholm, Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv, Ashdod Museum of Art, Israel, Shulamit Gallery, Los Angeles, Kelowna Art Gallery, BC, m.fl.
Hendes værker indgår i samlinger som Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Harvard Business School og Ashdod Museum of Art. Daniel har modtaget bevilling fra Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York Foundation for the Arts Grant, Rappaport Prize for a Young Israeli Painter 2009, Creative Capital Grant og NARS Foundation Residency in New York City.
Hun har senest besat et professorat hos Padnos Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Grand Valley State University, MI.

Ferniseringen finder sted fredag 18 Marts fra 16:00 til 19:00.

Åbningstider: Onsdag – fredag 15 – 18, lørdag 12 – 16. For yderligere information og henvendelser vedr. salg kontakt galleriet på: hello@christofferegelund.dk eller på
+45 33 93 92 00. Besøg os på Bredgade 75, 1260 København K.