Galleri NB, Viborg
29.04.-03.06.2023
NBeX project: Nana RHB: The Girl With Many Eyes
MAIN gallery: John Reuss: Reuss -23
It is not without reason that Gallery NB's upcoming exhibition is open longer than usual, as the two artists' individual exhibitions are very different, but both super exciting.
Nana RHB
With the exhibition The Girl With Many Eyes, Nana RHB presents new paintings, collages and smaller paper works, where she creates a space for reflection on the ambivalent meanings and symbolism of the eyes.
Eyes are often considered a window to the soul and can symbolize a close connection to one's inner self or a high degree of attention to one's surroundings. At the same time, eyes can also represent surveillance and censorship and act as a comment on the increased surveillance and control in society.
The exhibition touches on themes such as identity, staging, censorship and nostalgia, based on Nana RHB's own life in various roles as daughter, woman, artist, wife and mother.
In the process of painting, she works with different layers and overlaps and applies brush strokes over existing photographs in order to create a dialogue with the underlying source material, which remains visible to varying degrees.
The works are made on cardboard, paper, canvas and sailcloth, and she combines large colorful surfaces with parts of different visual material that she has collected and saved over the past few years.
The exhibition presents a present storyteller, and the works are full of visual richness and complexity, which gives the viewer the opportunity to explore Nana RHB's artistic universe and consider the many ways in which we see and understand the world around us.
Link to the artworks
John Reuss
In his works, John Reuss explores existential themes (identity, alienation, loneliness etc.) related to our modern way of life. With his semi-abstract compositions, Reuss invites the viewer to reflect on his own place in the world.
One of Reuss's greatest sources of inspiration over the years has been philosophical literature - and currently it is the philosophical work “Undinge” (non-things) by Byung-Chul Han, being one of the main sources. In the book, Han describes the relationship between the material and the immaterial in our modern, digital age. In the book, Han argues that the digital dominance has led to a world where material objects have lost their power and meaning, and how we have become more and more disconnected from the physical world around us.
In many ways, Reuss's works can be seen as a visual expression of some of the themes Han unfolds in "Undinge". Both Han and Reuss are concerned with the ways in which our relationship to the material world has been transformed by our modern lives. Byung-Chul Han argues that the digital world has led to a loss of meaning and significance in material objects, while Reuss's works often depict humans as fragmented and displaced from a physical context.
Furniture such as chairs and beds, which are normally recognizable and stable, in Reuss's works offer neither recognition nor stability - they are dissolved and meaningless, a reflection of Han's ideas about how, among other things, digital technologies have created a new form of existence, where everything is reduced to information and thus loses its materiality, just as we lose the stable anchor to the physical and to each other.
In this way, there is a parallel between Hans's ideas in "Undinge" and Reuss's works. Both challenge us to consider the meaning of the world we live in and encourage us to look deeper below the surface to find meaning. While Han's work offers a critique of the digital agenda that dominates our society, Reuss's art offers a path towards a deeper understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. Han and Reuss approach the relationship between the material and the immaterial in different ways, but share a common concern with how modern life has transformed our relationship with the physical world and social contexts.
Facts:
Place: Galleri NB, Viborg
Schedule : 29.04.-03.06.2023
Artists:
NBeX project: Nana RHB: The Girl With Many Eyes
Main gallery: John Reuss: Reuss -23
Links: