Artsy

God and Hair - Return of the Stoned Ape Theory

01 FEBRUARY - 01 MARCH 2008
01 February 2008

God and Hair – Return of the Stoned Ape Theory

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Description

Specially invited by Christian Finne for the project room:
The Savage Sons of Yahowa
Loke Rahbek & Mads Westrup

Byens kro has temporarily moved to the gallery uniquely for this opening reception and will be serving our guests the very best beer in town.

 

/ English /

“…The styles that have evolved within history, the styles of male dominance, concern for tracing male lines of paternity, private property, control of females, so forth and so on, all this has arisen as a result of the establishing and maintaining of the ego. The ego is the function of the personality that is most at home and at ease within the context of history, but really this is not a situation of mental health, the ego is like a calcareous tumour that arises within the dynamics of the psyche and lodges like a cancer or a tumour in the structures of the psyche. And the only cure or the only treatment that I am aware of for the calcareous tumour of ego is frequent repeated exposure to psychedelic plants.

….I think we can make some sense out of the human condition if we’re willing to look at psychedelic plants not as simply tools for individual spiritual transformation, but actually as tools and forces which transformed us as a species in the distant past”.

With this quotation from the American psychedelic writer Terence McKenna, Christian Finne seeks with spellbinding gestures in space once more to claim attention to the dogma which, given his already twenty-year, monomaniac, well, it is no exaggeration to say manic, interest in exotic alkaloids and the intricate interplay between plant and mind, he has made his favourite cause.

Galleri Christoffer Egelund looks forward to presenting completely new works by Christian Finne in the exhibition GOD AND HAIR, for which he has created a range of paper works and installational elements that take their inspiration from the number 33 – 33 referring to the artist’s age, astrology, tarot, biorhythms etc. as well as to the theory of the stoned ape and other pseudoscientific subjects.

The exhibition is Christian Finne’s first (semi) solo show in Galleri Christoffer Egelund. Semi, because he could not resist the temptation of inviting two very young artists, whom he admires greatly: Mads Westrup (b. 1984) and Loke Rahbek (b. 1989).

In the gallery’s project room the two artists present the exhibition “The Savage Sons of Yahova”, in which two artistically different points of departure are juxtaposed.

Mads Westrup displays works on paper in pencil and watercolour. His drawings often have autobiographical touches and deal with the socio-political as well as the aesthetic formation of norms that we are part of. So it is interhuman relations and hierarchies that absorb his interest, and especially the urge to shatter through his works both his own and others’ ideas of correctness and what is ”right”.

Loke Rahbek works with drawing, painting, collage, installation and sound. In his work he seeks a fusion of Krishna mentality, power electronics, black metal fan, punk, artist, teenager, straight edge, ad hoc vegetarian fanatic, anti-Nazi Nazi, anarchist and Norse mythology in the pursuit of (his own) identity. It is the clash between all of these different ideals that preoccupies him – and particularly the point at which the ideals become fanatic idealism and the fusion the essential negation.

Galleri Christoffer Egelund invites you to the Private View on 1 February at 4pm – 8pm. The exhibition GOD AND HAIR (return of the stoned ape theory) will be on show from 2 February – 1 March 2008.

 

/ Danish /

“…The styles that have evolved within history, the styles of male dominance, concern for tracing male lines of paternity, private property, control of females, so forth and so on, all this has arisen as a result of the establishing and maintaining of the ego. The ego is the function of the personality that is most at home and at ease within the context of history, but really this is not a situation of mental health, the ego is like a calcareous tumour that arises within the dynamics of the psyche and lodges like a cancer or a tumour in the structures of the psyche. And the only cure or the only treatment that I am aware of for the calcareous tumour of ego is frequent repeated exposure to psychedelic plants.

….I think we can make some sense out of the human condition if we’re willing to look at psychedelic plants not as simply tools for individual spiritual transformation, but actually as tools and forces which transformed us as a species in the distant past”.

Med dette citat af den amerikanske, psykedeliske forfatter Terence Mckenna søger Christian Finne endnu engang med besværgende fagter i rummet at påberåbe sig opmærksomhed omkring den lære, han i sin efterhånden 20 år lange monomane, ja man kan vel sige maniske, interesse for eksotiske alkaloider og det komplekse samspil mellem plante og sind, som han har gjort til sin mærkesag.

Galleri Christoffer Egelund glæder sig til at præsentere helt nye værker af Christian Finne i udstillingen GOD AND HAIR, hvortil han i forskellige papirarbejder og installatoriske greb har arbejdet med tallet 33, hvilket hentyder til såvel kunstnerens alder, astrologi, tarot, biorytmer osv. såvel som teorien om den stenede abe og andre pseudovidenskabelige emner.

Udstillingen er Christian Finnes første (semi) soloudstilling i Galleri Christoffer Egelund. Semi, fordi han alligevel ikke har kunnet nære sig for at invitere 2 helt unge kunstnere, som han har stor beundring for; nemlig Mads Westrup (1984) og Loke Rahbek (1989).

I galleriets projektrum præsenterer de to kunstnere udstillingen The Savage Sons of Yahova, hvor to forskellige kunstneriske udgangspunkter vil blive sammenstillet.

Mads Westrup viser papirarbejder i blyant og akvarel. Hans tegninger er ofte selvbiografisk notede, og omhandler såvel de socio-politiske som æstetiske normdannelser, vi finder os selv som en del af. Det er således menneskelige relationer og deres indbyrdes hierarkier, der optager hans interesse, og særligt trangen til gennem sine arbejder at nedbryde egne og andres forestillinger om korrekthed og det ”rigtige”.

Loke Rahbek arbejder med tegning, maleri, collage, installation og lyd. Herigennem søger han en  sammensmeltning af Krishna mentalitet, power electronics, black metal fan, punker, kunstner, teenager, straight edge, ad.hoc. fanatisk vegetar, anti-nazist nazist, anarkist og nordisk mytologi i en søgen efter (egen)identitet. Det er sammenstødet mellem alle disse forskellige idealer, der optager ham, og særlig i det punkt, hvor idealerne bliver til fanatisk idealisme, og sammensmeltningen den essentielle negation.

Galleri Christoffer Egelund inviterer til fernisering fredag den 1. februar kl. 16-20. Udstillingen GOD AND HAIR (return of the stoned ape theory) vises efterfølgende i perioden fra 2. februar- 1. marts 2008.