Hans Christian Skovholt - TESTIMONIALS
lørdag 11. september 2010 kl. 12:00 på BOA og fjorten andre tidspunkter
Galleri BOA
02. – 19. September
The juxtapositions Hans Christian Skovholt creates are striking and extraordinarily effective. A friend and I once had a lengthy late-night argument—as only heavily inebriated college-age people can—about what meaningful distinction there was between liking something, and actually thinking it’s good. Playing devil’s advocate, I was arguing that it’s absurd for someone to say, “I don’t like X, but I think it’s good”—that this was a straight cop-out. “No, I didn’t really like 2001, but I thought it was good.” By not liking it, don’t you really think, deep down, that 2001 was bad in some basic way, even if you can’t articulate it? Or, similarly, if you claim to like something while simultaneously admitting it’s bad, doesn’t that mean that you secretly think it’s good? Which is a roundabout way of getting to the exhibiton I was slogging through before our Great Cross-Country About-Face: Hans Christian Skovholt. Because here’s the thing about Hans Christian: He’s very good. Very, very, very good. And I just don’t like his art at all. Hans Christian Skovholt is one of the most eclectic and intriguing of modern artist. Hans Christian Skovholt art jumps erratically from the macrocosmic to the microcosmic, from the sublime to the mundane, from the urban to the pastoral, with disconcerting rapidity. More important than this, however, is the idea that Hans Christian Skovholt is not just a guy, but a symbol and there are people in the artworld – most notably Kristian Skylstad – who want to destroy that symbol. Hans Christian Skovholt is a genius, and he knows it. But unlike other geniuses that you might know, he never tries to make you feel dumb. He just wants you to understand the same things that he does, so occasionally you’ll feel out of your depth. But he’s also a gifted artist, so odds are that you will come out understanding him. And what he’s doing is brilliant, so you’ll feel like a better person for it. Testimonials is the coolest concept Skovholt has come up with in a very long time. Awesome and hypnotic. Like a Magritte painting. Mind blowing to say the least. Would love to see this flick on shrooms. To me, Testimonials represent the karmic materialistic trappings of ego. Samsara. Or, eternal Hell on Earth. If only Skovholt had had the temerity to linger on the static images of them for a much longer time in the exhibition. They are macabre. Hans Christian has been acting awful tough lately. Smoking a lot of cigarettes lately. But inside, he´s just a little baby. It’s okay to say you’ve got a weak spot, Hans. You don’t always have to be on top. Better to be hated than love, love, loved for what you’re not
Ålesund 2010
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Se forøvrig & Tommy Høvik, A Whim Of Naturea-whim-of-nature-tommy-hoevik/forestilling/99348