Kasper Sonne – Your Feelings Are Wrong

Prima personale a Torino dell’artista danese Kasper Sonne (Copenaghen, Danimarca, 1974).

Comunicato stampa

Lunedì 31 ottobre 2022, alle ore 19.00, Quartz Studio è lieto di presentare Your Feelings Are Wrong, la prima personale a Torino dell'artista danese Kasper Sonne (Copenaghen, Danimarca, 1974).

Con le tre grandi tele Your Feeling Are Wrong, There’s Nothing You Can Do To Me (That I Haven’t Already Done Myself), entrambe del 2021 e Flag (2022), Kasper Sonne recupera la figurazione dei suoi esordi, ma lo fa riducendo al massimo i dettagli a favore di una sintesi che sa di primitivismo e ritorno all’ordine. Nello spazio definito sinteticamente e che i colori rendono quasi bidimensionale, i protagonisti hanno una consistenza scultorea. I colori, pochi ma accesi, sono quelli della Transavanguardia italiana, mentre i soggetti dei dipinti, due pugili ed un ragazzo che indossa pantaloncini da calciatore, assurgono ad archetipi contemporanei. Con i loro volti inespressivi ed il loro isolamento, trasmettono una solitudine che è più psicologica che fisica. Presenze che universalizzano la sensazione di spaesamento dell’uomo nel confronto con la natura circostante, in una costante oscillazione emotiva che sottende la pulsione di morte.

Kasper Sonne (Copenaghen, Danimarca, 1974) si è laureato nel 2000 alla Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation. L’artista, da quindici anni a questa parte, vive e lavora fra Copenaghen e New York. Dopo una lunga frequentazione dell’arte astratta, negli ultimi anni è tornato al figurativo degli esordi con una nuova serie di opere su lino, di grandi e piccole dimensioni. Nella serie “THM” della fine del 2010 ha realizzato dipinti che ricordano collage, in cui alla tela applicava pagine del New York Times via via coperte da sottili strati di pittura finché quasi tutti i significanti linguistici erano completamente nascosti. La prolungata osservazione di immagini cariche di significato, imposta da quel procedimento lento e metodico, ha favorito in maniera spontanea il graduale ritorno a motivi più esplicitamente figurativi. Le sue ultime composizioni sono spesso paesaggi ampi e desolati che si scontrano con le complessità psicologiche dell’isolamento ed ampliano gli stati mentali individuali, portandoli a dimensioni tettoniche. Nel corso della sua attività Sonne non ha mai smesso d’indagare il modo in cui interpretiamo l’ambiente circostante e in cui decifriamo il mondo che abitiamo, costruendo e decostruendo intenzionalmente la realtà. Fra le mostre a cui Kasper Sonne ha partecipato, diverse le personali in musei e gallerie quali Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, Stati Uniti (2022); A Hug From The Art World, New York, Stati Uniti (2019); Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Giappone (2018); HEART Museum, Danimarca (2016); The Arts Club, Londra, Regno Unito (2015); West, L’Aia, Olanda (2014); Brand New Gallery, Milano, Italia (2014); SALTS, Basilea, Svizzera (2013); The Hole, New York, Stati Uniti (2013); Primo Piano, Parigi, Francia (2012); SAPS Museum, Mexico City, Messico (2010); V1 Gallery, Copenaghen, Danimarca (2009). Numerose anche le collettive nelle seguenti istituzioni: Brigade Gallery, Copenaghen, Danimarca (2021); Collaborations Gallery, Copenaghen, Danimarca (2018); Palazzo Fruscione, Salerno, Italia (2016); Fergus McCaffrey, New York, Stati Uniti (2015); Kunstverein Kolnberg, Colonia, Germania (2015); Den Frie – Center of Contemporary Art, Copenaghen, Danimarca (2015); Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Stati Uniti (2014); Museo nazionale di Capodimonte, Napoli, Italia (2014); Centre d’art Contemporain, Clichy, Francia (2014); Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, Stati Uniti (2014); The Moving Museum, Dubai, Emirati Arabi Uniti (2013); Gl. Holtegaard, galleria d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Danimarca (2013); Palais de Tokyo, Parigi, Francia (2012); Bass Museum of Art, Miami, Stati Uniti (2011); Museo de San Carlos, Mexico City, Messico (2008); Seventeen Gallery, Londra, Regno Unito (2007); Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria (2006). Le opere di Sonne fanno parte di collezioni pubbliche quali la Fuban Art Foundations, Taiwan, la David Roberts Art Foundation di Londra e l’HEART Museum di Herning, in Danimarca.

Quartz Studio ringrazia l’artista. La mostra resterà aperta dal 31 ottobre 2022 al 14 gennaio 2023, su appuntamento.

On Monday, September 31, 2022, at 7:00 pm, Quartz Studio is pleased to present Your Feelings Are Wrong, the first solo show in Turin by the Danish artist Kasper Sonne (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1974).

With three large paintings, Your Feelings Are Wrong, There’s Nothing You Can Do to Me (That I Haven’t Already Done Myself), both from 2021, and Flag (2022), Kasper Sonne returns to the figurative work of his early years, yet he takes the details to a minimum in favor a synthesis that has a quality of primitivism and a return to order. In the concisely defined space that the colors make almost two-dimensional, the main characters have a consistency that verges on sculptural. The colors are few but intense, those of the Italian Transavantgarde. The paintings' subjects, two boxers and a boy wearing soccer shorts, are taken to the level of contemporary archetypes. Their inexpressive faces and isolation convey a solitude more psychological than physical. These presences make universal the human sense of displacement in nature/the surrounding space, in a constant emotional oscillation underlying the death drive.

Kasper Sonne (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1974) graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation in 2000 and has been living and working between Copenhagen and New York for the past fifteen years. After having worked predominantly within an abstract visual framework, in recent years Sonne has returned to the figurative approach of his early career in a new series of large- and small-scale works on linen. In his “THM” series from the late 2010s, Sonne created a number of collage-adjacent paintings in which pages from the New York Times were applied to canvas and gradually overlaid with thin washes of paint until almost all of the linguistic signifiers were totally obscured. The extended contemplation of “newsworthy” images that this slow and methodical process necessitated naturally fueled Sonne’s gradual return to working with more explicitly figurative motifs. His newest compositions often depict expansive and desolate landscapes that grapple with the psychological complexities of isolation and expand individual mental states to the scale of the tectonic. Throughout his practice, Sonne has continuously investigated the way we interpret our surroundings and make sense of the world we live in by purposefully constructing and deconstructing reality. Kasper Sonne’s exhibition history includes solo exhibitions at museums and galleries such as Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, US (2022); A Hug From The Art World, New York, US (2019); Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2018); HEART Museum, Denmark (2016); The Arts Club, London, UK (2015); West, Den Haag, Netherlands (2014); Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy (2014); SALTS, Basel, Switzerland (2013); The Hole, New York, US (2013); Primo Piano, Paris, France (2012); SAPS museum, Mexico City, Mexico (2010) and V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark (2009), as well as group exhibitions at Brigade Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark (2021), Collaborations Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark (2018), Palazzo Fruscione, Salerno, Italy (2016), Fergus McCaffrey in New York, US (2015); Kunstverein Kolnberg, Cologne (2015), Germany; Den Frie - Center of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark (2015); Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, US (2014); National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy (2014); Centre d’art Contemporain, Clichy, France (2014); Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, US (2014); The Moving Museum, Dubai, Emirates (2013), Gl. Holtegaard – gallery for contemporary and modern art, Denmark (2013); Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2012); Bass Museum of Art, Miami, US (2011); Museo de San Carlos, Mexico City, Mexico (2008); Seventeen Gallery, London, UK (2007) and Galerie Krinzinger, Wien, Austria (2006). Sonne’s works are included in several public collections, such as Fuban Art Foundations, Taiwan, David Roberts Art Foundation, London and HEART Museum, Herning, Denmark.

Quartz Studio would like to thank the artist. The exhibition will be open from October 31, 2022 to January 14, 2023, by appointment.

image credit:
Kasper Sonne, There’s Nothing You Can Do To Me (That I Haven’t Already Done Myself), 2021
oil on linen, 72 x 60 inches / 183 x 152,5 cm
courtesy the artist