'Born in 1965, Morton Viskum is considered one of the most provocative and controversial contemporary artists from Scandinavia. The artist’s unconventional choice of materials, themes and artistic expressions often seduces and invites the viewers to experience a range of unexpected emotions, causing shock, amazement and uncontrollable curiosity.
'For his first London solo exhibition 'The Hand with the Golden Ring’, the artist did a live performance during the evening of the private view; the thrill was caused by the fact a dead human hand was used live as a paintbrush, demonstrating how the new series of paintings were created. It was not the first time the artist made use of a severed human hand as a paintbrush to compose paintings; Viskum actually owns several hands, they are not merely tools; the idea of the hand being linked to an immortalized personality is absolute central to those occasions when Viskum paints with it.
'Viskum gained notoriety in the art world when back in 1999 he showed at an exhibition in Copenhagen the very first series painted with a dead hand: 'The Hand that Never Stopped Painting'. Carefully the hand used was placed in a metal box with a lid and the viewers decided for themselves if they wanted to see it or not. Over a decade later, the hand is still a strong and a significant part of his art projects; when painting with them each hand expresses a different style and the paintings embody a certain personality.
''The Hand with the Golden Ring', unlike the others, evidences an aggregated object: the golden ring suggests vanity and affluence of the diseased; the golden ring acts as a counterfactual narrative; the object put contingency back into an obsequy, serving as a necessary antidote to traditional deterministic tendencies. The presence of the ring initiates an obituary and for the viewer it evidences a sense of the human futile materialism. Who the hands belonged to initially, is one of Viskum´s well kept secrets.
'By this approach, the art appears performative, more as an action, and not as much as an object-related material presence. By using one hand from a dead human being as a paintbrush, Viskum draws attention towards the work process. One can easily recognize the patterns caused by the hand's presence, formed by abrupt lines, applied vertically in many layers and in many colors, adding a vibrant feeling of rhythm to the surface of the scintillating painting. These paintings bring to mind American Action Painting, an art form where the painting finds no premeditated composition and the focus is set on the event that created the art rather than on the object itself.' -- Vegas Gallery
_______________
Morten Viskum's 'Immortal'
_____________
Further
Morten Viksum Website
Morten Viskum @ Facebook
Morten Viskum @ Vegas Gallery, London
'Morten Viskum / in retrospect' @ Artpulse Magazine
Morten Viskum @ FAS, London
'The Female Hand' @ ME, Denmark
Book/video: 'Morten Viskum (Antenne Books)
________________
Interview
from Don't Panic
You are generally regarded as one of the most controversial contemporary artists in Norway. How do you describe what you do to people who don’t know you?
I usually start by describing my background as a veterinarian before I started at the Art Academy in Oslo. At the same time I tell people that a lot of the things said about me originates from the tabloid press. The projects written about here only make up a small portion of what I do as an artist. Many of my projects concern everyday phenomena within medicine and science, things that the public are not used to seeing and hearing about.
Is controversy an important and intentional part of your work?
No. To shock is not interesting in it self.
But the projects have lead up to a lot of interesting discussing that have made the projects worth seeing though. When the projects are exhibited for the first time, I sometimes get insecure if I have lost sight of the primary goals within the projects. And revealingly it seems that the projects get better over time. I take this as a good sign.
Can you tell us a bit about 'The hand with the golden ring'?
The different Hand – projects develop, both concerning concept and technique, based on the background information I have.
The hand with the golden ring is hand number 6. All the paintings are new and made for this exhibition. First the canvas is painted with animal blood, using the severed hand as a brush. Then I place some gold glitter in the palm of the severed hand. Then I blow the glitter over the blood. At the end I paint over the glitter again with different colours, again using the hand as a brush.
How easy is it to source dead people’s body parts for the work?
That is a part of the project’s secret.
The nature of your work inevitably is going to divide audiences. What is the most common criticism that you hear? How do you deal or react to it?
Most of the time the people that criticize my work are the people who do not come to see my exhibitions and who do not make an effort to enter into the problems the projects discuss. Other people fear death too much and therefore do not want to touch the subject. Others again think using the severed hands is just a cheap trick. Luckily, a large group of people, growing after each exhibition, are fascinated by and interested in the work just because they are not made in a traditional sort of way.
The people who have been following my work over time also know, of course, that most of the time the projects are concerned with what you can not see, more than what is actually there.
Throughout art history artist have visited mortuaries and autopsies to paint and draw the human anatomy. I extend this tradition a bit further. I remove the body parts from the morgue and use the body parts directly as tools. The performative aspect is therefore the most important part of the work and what happens when the audience encounters the remains of the performance.
________________
The instruments
The first hand
The black hand
The hand with the golden ring
The new hand
The female hand
The paintings
The exhibitions
'The hand that never stopped painting' (in Norwegian)
'The black hand'
'The hand with the golden ring'
'The female hand' (in Norwegian)
----
*
p.s. RIP: Ellen Stewart, Susannah York. Happy MLK Day. ** Nerstes, Maybe your students are just shy? Ha ha, hi, Lou. ** Alexp336, Yeah, hyper-masculinity is definitely one of the more enduring gay ideals. From Tom of Finland drawings to the disco era mustachioed clone look to the fetishizing of 'blue collar' types to the gym-constructed superhunks of today and beyond. It's certainly interesting, and taste is taste. The lithe and androgynous type is just as codified, I guess. That project vis a vis the other UK writers sounds intriguing. Interested to hear more about that whenever the time feels right. Glad to hear you're feeling better, of course. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, D. That is a curious Ginsberg story. Everyone, DE alerts us to a odd, interesting remembrance piece re: Allen Ginsberg. Thanks! ** Empty Frame, Yeah, if you can score yourself an agent, that's the best way to go. If not, don't sweat it, though. There are other ways. Weird, I tried to write a story in the form of a recipe once. Couldn't quite suss it. Wrong content, I think. Make it work, man, if you can. I'd love to see how you finessed the thing. ** Esther Planas, Glad you liked the boys. Tropical, trippy. Submit some text? Sure, of course. I'm not completely sure what you mean. A post, the writers workshop, or ... ? In any case, yes, please, thank you! Dude, I'm pretty damned happy that the blog is free and easy for you again too. For sure. ** Sypha, Hey. I guess if one sees the escort and slave posts as just two halves of a monthly beauty pageant, it makes sense that the escorts would be preferable. True about the prejudice about short fiction collections, but it's even worse here in France, say, where short stories have almost never been seen as a venerable or popular or serious form with rare exceptions. I don't know why that is, but French writers rarely tackle the short story or read collections of them. ** Pilgarlic, Give me tofu and/or mall rats over meat any day. 'Savoy Truffle' is a good one. I was just reading some online forum the other day where people were decrying L/M's nixing of Harrison's great song 'Sour Milk Sea' for 'The White Album' and deciding which track it should have replaced. I think the consensus was 'Honey Pie'. I think I'd agree. That Atlanta snow and ice has got to be checking out by now, no? Hope so. ** Changeling, Hey, man! Well, I'm still fiddling with mine, if that helps. And I'm working on a theater text, but I guess that doesn't count. On the workshop, hm, it's hard to say, and you know best, but what might work or might be helpful is if you were to pose particular questions or suggest focal points for the readers in a little preface. Like, I don't know, pointing out parts or aspects that you feel like you need help/ feedback with. I.e., 'how does (blank) strike you', or 'I'm trying to do (blank) in this one part, is that coming across?'. or ... you-name-it. Directing people to things that you're uncertain about or that you need objective takes on. Asking for targeted feedback. I can see that helping theoretically. The question is whether it would be good to get some fresh air and outside eyes on the work at this point. It sounds like that might be a good idea and that you might be too wrapped up in it at this stage to assess it unemotionally? Those are the selling points on the workshop possibility. People here are pretty supportive regarding the workshop posts, so, in that sense, it shouldn't be too dangerous to put your work on the line. You'll get a lot of feedback that will probably be contradictory in some cases. That can be confusing, or the diversity can also help by giving you a sense of what in the work is clear/ generally understood and what is more ambiguous. I don't know. Obviously, I'd love to host your work in the workshop, but the only important thing is what will help you get the swampiness out of your feelings about the novel. The workshop situation could help. I get the sense that it's been a positive experience for every writer who has had their work featured thus far. ** Bernard Welt, Hey. I'm going to try to see 'Somewhere' this week, I hope. ** Alan, Hey. Oh, I completely forgot about that book. 'The Novelist's Lexicon' was derived from a literary conference of the same name that was held at Villa Gillet in Lyon a couple or so years ago. I was supposed to participate, but I ended up not being there because -- I can't remember -- either my mom died around that time or because it took place when I had bronchitis. So, I can't speak to the conference itself, and I haven't seen the book. The writers were supposed to write a statement, and I wrote and gave them the 'Signed D.C.' poem or 'micro-fiction', which I ended up putting in 'The Weaklings' book. That's all I really know about the whole thing. I'll have to go find that book and take a look. ** Math, You made it! Awesome! So, apart from the luxuriating bath, what have you been doing there? You been to Powells? ** Jose, Hey. Oh, fuck, thanks for the warning. I'm not going to click on that link until I get the text-in-progress for Gisele finished, but ... Everyone, courtesy of Jose, and in his own words: 'The best free videogame you can play on the internet. Don't click unless you have serious time to waste.' Get thee behind me Satan, at least until later this afternoon. Thanks a lot, J. ** Polter, Hi! Oh, that's okay. About the answer or not. So, I'm officially coming to Oslo! I'm excited! I'm doing a post-performance discussion/ q&a after 'TIHYWD' on the 24th and a reading after the 'I Apologize' performance on the 26th. And checking out Oslo. Let's meet up, yes? Based on your weather report, I had better seriously buy another pair of shoes before I come. Hm, I don't know about that 'are people different' question. My first instinct is to say yes, they are, but that might be me being very being detail-oriented. I guess I always approach new people I meet with the idea that they're entirely unique creatures, and then I let the commonalities chip away at that premise. My birthday was kind of a non-event, which is what I wanted. I ate Mexican food. That was treat enough. Your accruing of old friends sounds really nice to me, but then again I'm over here in France and far away from all of my old friends, and that hurts. I hope the good stays good and outweighs the not good. Life has been giving me ... hm, too much procrastination lately. I'm suffering from post-novel writing spaciness when I really need to get back to work. Otherwise, life's been pretty kind to me, I'd say. Very lovely to see you, friend. ** 'Matt', Hey. Yeah, Gisele flew off to Israel this morning for a week, and she said she'd look into it and we'll talk when she gets back. That book you linked to does sound really intriguing. Do give me a heads up or hopefully not down about it. Tempting. Thanks for that, man. ** Bill, Hey. Oh, wow, 'Edogawa Rampo zenshû'! Man, I haven't seen that film in decades. How bizarre that they're calling it 'Horrors of Malformed Men' now, ha ha. I can hardly remember the film, just its strangeness, although I do faintly remember the butoh footage. Crazy reminder. Okay, you've had your fun, now get back into the service of your own work, sir. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Ah, well, I do so always look forward to your e&s post feedback, man. Lovely. Steely Dan, ha ha, yes. I've often mused on the offer by the majority of the escorts to fist their clients. I suppose I suspect they don't have experience-one in fisting in most cases. I assume they think it sounds like an easy enough gig. One closed hand and a bit of elbow grease. There's also the fact that, if you've ever noticed, the vast majority of escorts based in Germany have a 'yes' next to 'Dirty' whereas only a tiny percentage of escorts based elsewhere put 'yes'. Curious. Tofu is a real heartbreaker. Etc. Are you well and settling in and doing what you want to do, man? ** Mark, Hey. Oh, thanks for your number. I was going to write to you, but I'll probably just call you instead and do the email thing is the phone thing doesn't connect us. See you very soon, I hope. ** Jax, Hi, pal. Yeah, Susannah York, amazing. I mostly know her late 60s and early 70s work, 'They Shoot Horses', 'The Killing of Sister George', 'The Maids', ... Thanks re: the escorts. How are you? Is the theater project in motion? ** Paul Curran, G.O.O.D. is good! Smooth, yum. No, there still has been no official acceptance of the novel at HP yet. A bit worrying, but my earlier worries were unfounded, so ... gulp, here's hoping. Thanks, Paul. ** Dusty rose, Hey. You weren't being dramatic, and, anyway, you have a right to be, and drama is an interesting form if it springs from the right sensibility. Speaking of which, have I already told you how much I love your drawings and your haiku-esque writings/ poems? Like 'If' is so good. And, like, 'keep your electric eye / on my babe.' For example. Anyway, more kudos. ** Steevee, Isn't it? And, based on the photo, I believe him. 'Death Tube' inevitably brings Cronenberg to mind too. Hm, it does sound fun. ** Empty the sun, Joseph! Luckily, the snow was in my tail wind. Or in the plane's, I guess. Deadline extension ... oh, you're making it tough to not pull something out. I am trying. It's early for me. My brain tends to juggle and weigh for a while before my pen -- literally -- lowers onto a piece if paper, literally. Yeah, 'Cows' is a thing and a half, isn't it? Serious suckage that I can't be at the BS reading. Thanks a million, by the way, for lending your great voice to 'Cows'. Interesting reading assignment. Oh, and your read on the Stokoe books was superb, man. Kudos. I think I was at a couple of those Broadcast Spaceland gigs myself. Yeah, sad. Take care, bud. ** Colin, Yeah, Tofu would be a real handful of an escort. You don't often get so much content offered from the outset. I call his problems a gravitational force. Very cool about the post, and how typically kind of Mr. Killian to help. Intense about the car crash. Such an amazing sound, no? There's no word for it. ** ASH, Hey. Yeah, cool, so you did get your blog up and going, and that's splendid new stuff, I must say. Really terrific piece on AYWKUBTTOD. Agreed totally about the 'Paradise Lost' doc. Have you seen the second, follow up doc? It's not as amazing, but it has some amazing footage. My favorite Deerhoof is 'Reveille'. Second fave would probably be 'Apple O'. Everyone, d.l. ASH has just restarted/ refreshed his blog Colosseum after a long hiatus, and its new stuff includes a fine piece on And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, the 'Paradise Lots' documentary, and other stuff. Very worth your support and attention, so why not check it out. 'Smothered in Hugs' is nothing but a GbV reference/ title/ tribute. It pains me very severely that I didn't get to see GbV on the reunion tour, no. They nixed a European jaunt, tragically. Your English degree ... what is that focused on precisely or even imprecisely? Hope you're well too. ** Allesfliesst, Tuxedomoon, good call. Yeah, I think I am cleared to get a DVD from 'the office' this week. The abstract title is pretty nailing. I'd only insert 'possibly delusional' between 'the' and 'murderer', but I have a tendency to ask for the world in a hand basket. Or something. More coffee. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hey, Ben. I not only got it, and not only is it stupendous, but I can tell you right now that it will appear here on the blog on Saturday, the 29th. Thank you endlessly. What is an office 'ball'? I shudder to think. ** Andrew, Like Steevee said, 'High Life' is also 'violent', but not as much or in the same way as 'Cows'. I haven't read 'Empty Mile', the new one, yet, but I understand it's less difficult and explicit than the others. Emptythesun had a great related take/read on the Stokoe books at the bottom of yesterday's comments section, if you missed it. ** Chris Cochrane, Hey. 7 pm is fine. I'll send a confirming email in a minute. Look forward to talking. ** Nb, There's only one way to find out. Hey, man. Thanks for the up on 'Blue Valentine'. I hope its reach extends to Paris. Yeah, 'The American' was really nice. I was surprised that I hadn't read more about it. I thought of the Jarmusch too, of course. Very different feels, both quite effective. Ear infection? Ugh. Good old winter yet again, I'd imagine. Sorry, man. Put some drops in there. That's a cool seesaw. Who's on top? Weird looking park. ** Creative Massacre, I did greatly enjoy the links, yes! Thanks, and thanks to your expert friend, too. 'Balloon Girl' is cool. Very nice. Everyone, new Creative Massacre piece, 'Balloon Girl', my take on the Banksy tag'. Check it. Oh, and definitely on the greatness of Kat's work. And those new pieces of hers are gorgeous, yeah. Good of you to point them out, pal. Everyone, while I have your attention, CM also alerts us to some new paintings by the wonderful artist and very beloved, longtime d.l. Kat. She and I both highly recommend you catch up with Kat's newest works here. Thanks a lot. Happy Monday, I hope. ** Kevin Killian, Ah, Kevin, my hero, thank you for sorting out my fumbling Language/ NN thoughts. Everyone, here's the great Kevin Killian on the story of New Narrative writing vis a vis Language Poetry, as vaguely addressed by me on Saturday: 'It's true that a cluster of recent historiographic based articles on the New Narrative have been focussing in extremely tight closeup on Language Poetry and on Bob Gluck's, Bruce Boone's and Steve Abbott's efforts, beginning in the mid to late 80s, to "correct" it in varying ways. This tight emphasis does tend to subtract everything other than the "Heroic Trio" from the agonistic stage picture.... But that is not all the story, and the more balanced critical articles have been moving outward to embrace all sorts of New Narrative impulses, beyond San Francisco and even beyond Language writing if you can believe it.' Well, of course I'm quite heartened to think that, thanks to you and Dodie, NN might let me back in from the cold, cruel world of, uh, ... Other Narrative? Thank you so much, buddy of mine, and lots of love to you. ** All right, the week will now proceed. The post: So, Morten Viskum ... what do you think: Interesting project/art, attention grabbing gimmick, something in between, something else entirely? What do you reckon? See you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment