Blows, Bodies and Eye Contact

Contemporary art has, as usual, taken up a good deal of space at the autumn auction. It can be difficult to get a sense of everything that is up for auction, so this time we have focused on three of the most (literally) hard-hitting works.

Nicolai Howalt’s Sensitive Kid Boxer

The internationally renowned Danish artist Nicolai Howalt (born 1970), who primarily works with photo-based art and often in collaboration with his partner Trine Søndergaard, hit the front page of the New York magazine in March with his photograph entitled “Boxer”. The work was made back in 2003, yet it is still highly topical and was meant to illustrate the magazine’s current ongoing series about "How to Raise a Boy" – a relevant topic at a time where the discussion of gender ideals and #metoo is all the rage. The work is the second part of a double portrait of a young boy after his first boxing match. The first part of the work portrays the boy before the match. Both the “before” and “after” pictures are presented for the first time at auction in Denmark.

The "Boxer" series is inspired by both Howalt's own experiences as a boxer and by the transition from boyhood to manhood. The images are very powerful, in spite of the minimalist setup and stationary motif. The strength of the images both comes from the large format of the works (they each measure 145 x 120 cm) as well as the confrontation with the boy's gaze and his emotional and physical transformation, which cannot avoid impacting the viewer. The ordeal of the boxing match is clearly evident for the spectator, even though the match itself has never been witnessed. As the New York magazine's Photography Director Jody Quon says about the image: “You couldn't tell if he was upset or angry. There was a real complexity in his expression. He was emitting a real emotion.”

Sofie Bird Møller's Bodily Interactions

Bodily presence and absence also play their part in the artist Sofie Bird Møller's (1974) artistic universe – but her approach is completely different. At the auction, we present a work from the series "Interaction". The work is from 2012, and the artist has used herself as a paintbrush. With her body, she has painted over the conventional model on a traditional ad poster, so you can sense the original contours of the now faceless figure. The model is, however, now wearing a new colourful "dress" and has an elegant silhouette. The painterly practice in which the artist's own body is painted into the picture – literally – thereby changes the image that was forever, as well as provides it with new layers and contrasts. Both Bird Møller's method and her work can be understood at many different levels and finds its starting point in several art-historical movements from Surrealism to Pop Art. The work can easily be interpreted from a feminist perspective and body critique, but it contains a playful approach that is fully aware of the body's limitations, possibilities, absence, presence and, not least, the joy of experiencing and shaping art. 

At Eye Level with the Playful Tal R

The sensory, playfulness and imaginative are also elements of the artist Tal R's (born 1967) universe. "If you look closely at my paintings, they almost all look like faces – there's always something that looks out at you. I've always thought that you need to establish eye contact with each painting. No matter how flat it's painted, you need to feel that it looks back at you," said Tal R in an interview with Louisiana Magazine in connection with his solo show last year with the ironic title Academy of Tal R.

In the work "Piger, piger, piger (Dødningehoved)" (Girls, Girls, Girls (Skull)), which was made in 1997 during Tal R's time at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, we find both Tal R’s characteristically powerful colours of blue, red, green and orange, as well as his use of layer upon layer of colours and surfaces that intersect with each other and floating, playful characters. Underneath it all, an eye and the lower half of a skull snigger at the goings-on and looks us straight in the eyes.

Preview and Auction

In addition to these formidable examples, the auction also contains a series of international and Danish contemporary artwork and photographs by names such as Michael Kvium, Christian Lemmertz, Cathrine Raben Davidsen, Kaspar Bonnén, Lars Nørgård, Astrid Kruse Jensen, Hiroshi Sugimoto and many others. At the preview in Copenhagen, you can experience them all. The preview opens Thursday 13 September at 3 pm and can be visited until Monday 17 September. The auction of contemporary art and photographs takes place across 25 and 26 September, and everyone is welcome. View the opening and auction times here.

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