Sergej Jensen “Classic”

Rat Hole Gallery

Finished

Artists

Sergej Jensen

Sergej Jensen (Danish, b.1973, lives and works in New York) is known for his works constructed from a wide range of found textiles such as linens, silks, cashmeres, burlaps, wools and canvases. His practice involves sewing, bleaching, stretching and staining the materials with natural dyes, gouache and acrylic, to create minimalist compositions that oscillate between abstraction and representation. Roughly cut strips of fabric, as well as off-cuts from previous works, are applied as if in the form of brushstrokes and the gesture of painting. Paint, when used, is applied only subtly, sparingly, in subdued tones, and at times from behind the canvas.

Also among the works on view is a painting from the artist’s “Money Bag” series in which he sews together cloth bank bags from federal and municipal banks in Europe and the USA into simple, grid-like compositions that take on the formal properties of geometric abstraction. In another work, Jensen has employed a figurative style, with representational imagery taken from classical painting suggestive of Renaissance, Romantic or proto-Modernist sources, and with textures resembling the layering of tempera or fresco painting. Similar to his sewn and dyed abstractions that seemingly adopt a tradition of “high painting” but negate its conventions, Jensen’s figurative work also appears to refer to the history of classic representational painting but combine motifs and sources in unconventional ways.

Schedule

Apr 22 (Fri) 2016-Jun 19 (Sun) 2016