Tal Shlomo Rosenzweig, known as Tal R (born in Israel in 1967), is a Danish artist who lives and works in Copenhagen. He moved to Denmark with his family as a child, and he graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2000. Tal R is best known for his paintings, but he also creates installations. In his paintings, he includes various elements taken from texts, drawings and textiles. Tal R works with many different structures and subjects and also expresses himself through sculpture – in patinated bronze, for example – and furniture. His studio is called “Paradis” and is located on Nansensgade in inner Copenhagen. Tal R employs a colourful, stylised idiom that often makes child’s play of art: paint is squeezed out onto the canvas straight from the tube, or colour pigments are mixed with rabbit-skin glue. He produces his unique “Opium Beds” from old rag rugs picked up around Scandinavia. The titles of his works frequently contain a play on words, a reference to something or a statement. And he is crazy about the colour pink.
Tal R, Stupid Hardworking Moon and Sex Shop
Tal R likes to participate in charity work, such as in 2014, when he painted a portrait of Medina and auctioned it off to raise money for the NGO for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence. His main works include “Stupid Hardworking Moon” (2004) and “Sex Shop” (2013). Tal R also created the ceiling painting “Et skib er ikke en ø” (A Ship Is Not an Island) in the foyer of Takkelloftet at the Royal Danish Opera House, and the main work “Sailing Up” (2009) for King Frederic’s study in Frederik VIII’s Palace at Amalienborg. A more recent work, “Rejsen begynder her” (The Journey Begins Here), was installed at Østerport Station in Copenhagen in 2023. Another of his works, “Wave Lamp”, sold at Sotheby’s for around 1.6 million kroner back in 2007.
Tal R the Innovator
Tal R is one of the very best-selling artists in Denmark today and one of the contemporary artists who fares best abroad in terms of price. He is already represented in some of the world’s largest collections and museums, and he exhibits worldwide. He is the storyteller with an eye for the overlooked, the hidden and the repressed space in our modern lives. And he is considered to have renewed figurative painting. His colours and shapes draw parallels to CoBrA, while the inclusion of different materials and text bears similarities to Fluxus. In 2009–2017, Tal R co-founded the design collective Moonspoon Saloon together with the designers Sara Sachs and Evren Tekinoktay. The Moonspoon Saloon became known for its colourful, humorous style.
Tal R at Exhibition
Tal R has exhibited at a long list of Danish museums, including ARoS Aarhus Art Museum (The Virgin, 2013), Louisiana (Academy of Tal R, 2017), Glyptoteket (Animals & People/Dyr & mennesker, 2020) and Kunsten – Museum of Modern Art Aalborg (Tal R & Mamma Andersson – About Hill, 2022). He has also exhibited at a large number of private galleries abroad, in Brazil, Israel, Japan, Russia, the UK, Germany and the US, among other countries.
Nominations and Awards for Tal R
Tal R has received several awards, including the Carnegie Art Award (2002), the Eckersberg Medal (2004) and the New Carlsberg Foundation’s Artist Grant (2016).
Tal R Works for Sale at Bruun Rasmussen
At Bruun Rasmussen, we have works for sale that arouse interest and are relevant to buyers and collectors. Here, you can keep an eye on the works by Tal R that you can bid on right now.
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