Charlotte Neel Ritto “Aftermath”

CHARLOTTE NEEL RITTO (DK)
Aftermath
26.10 – 09.11.2018

[UK]

It is with great pleasure that Galleri Christoffer Egelund for the first time presents a solo show in the gallery ProjectROOM with Charlotte Neel Ritto.

At the solo show Aftermath we show selected works from the recent years as well as works from her graduation show this year.

The artist is fascinated by life in the more privileged part of the world. The paintings depict scenes that could be understood as ’evidence’, as they seem to bear witness to a decadent society on the brink of total collapse. However, this is only the pretext to submit to the joy of painting. In the course of working on the canvasses, something happens; being either a joyful expression and evidence to our living conditions, they transform into an admixture of something private and lush and yet public and bold.

Charlotte Neel Ritto started painting late in life, but after only a few years her paintings appeared at several curated shows in 2012 and 2013. She won the prize as Artist of the Year at one of them KS12 and recieved a grant from Henry Heerups Grant. This animated her to pursue formal education and this year she graduated as bachelor of fine arts from Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam on top of being nominated for the painter’s prize for the Buning Brongers Prijzen.

Even if she for the last five years focused on education, she has had a couple of exiting shows abroad. In 2016 she took part in ”Catastrophes” curated by John Waters at Gallery Albert Merola, Provincetown and in 2017 she took part in ’Mad Cow’ in Vienna, a show curated by Salvatore Viviano, who is member of the performance group ’Gelitin’ and gallerist.

[DK]

Det er med stor fornøjelse, at Galleri Christoffer Egelund for første gang, kan præsenterer en soloudstilling i galleriet ProjectROOM med Charlotte Neel Ritto.

På soloudstillingen Aftermath vises en serie udvalgte værker fra de senere år samt fra dette års akademi afgangsprojekt.

Kunstneren er optaget af sin samtid og maler scener der kan forstås som ’vidnesbyrd’ på et dekadent samfund, der synes at være på randen af et sammenbrud. Motiver, enten taget fra nyhederne eller private fotos som ellers kunne optræde på sociale medier, bliver startskuddet til at underkaste sig maleglæde og i processen transformeres motiverne til noget både frodigt og privat dog samtidigt noget alment vedkommende og friskt.

Charlotte Neel Ritto begyndte i en sen alder at male. Efter kun at have malet et par år, var hun i 2012 og 2013 med på adskillige kurraterede udstillinger i Danmark og vandt prisen som årets kunstner på KS, Kunstnernes sommerudstilling i Tisted samt modtog en pris fra Henry Heerups legat. Det ansporede hende til at søge en formel uddannelse og i år graduerede hun fra Gerrit Rietveld Kunstakademi i Amsterdam som Bachelor med en fin nominering til Buning Brongers Prijzen.

Selvom de sidste 5 år har været fokuseret på uddannelse har kunstneren haft to spændende udstillinger i udlandet. Dels i 2016 i Province Town galleriet Albert Merola, hvor John Waters (den amerikanske kunstner og filminstruktør) kurraterede udstillingen ’Catastrophes’, samt i Wien hvor hun i 2017 deltog i udstillingen ’ Mad Cow’, kurrateret af Salvatore Viviano (kunstner, gallerist samt medlem af performancegruppen ’gelitin’).