Bright Beneath
Kristian Touborg
NOVO - Eduardo Secci Milano
Milan, from December 9 to March 18, 2022 (EXTENDED)
Opening: Thursday, December 9, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Exhibition view, Bright Beneath, Kristian Touborg, NOVO Milano, 2021, Photo The Knack Studio, Courtesy the artist and NOVO - Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
From December 9 to March 18, 2022, NOVO Milano is pleased to present the solo show “Bright Beneath” of Kristian Touborg. This exhibition project is the second one dedicated by the Eduardo Secci gallery to the young Danish artist.
Shifting away from the emphasis on sculptural approaches to painting that have informed recent exhibitions, for this new body of work the artist returns to a more intimately figurative and narrative style, situated within a richly saturated emotional environment.
Whilst continuing to combine synthetic materials, oil painting technique and digital tools, Kristian Touborg’s core practice - with its focus on materiality and spatial presence - turns its attention towards complex inner dimensions rather than the general qualities derived from the study of forms.
Motifs from the Touborg’s daily life are elevated to the status of symbols, gaining universal psychological and emotional significance in the process. Elements of the uncanny and the mysterious are blended with humor and a sense of tranquility to create a complex but coherent visual language. These works are filled with references to the artist’s boyhood and to the familial sphere. However, the division between truth and the imaginary is blurred and the paintings revel in the dance between abstraction and figuration, digital and painterly sensibilities and existential concerns with death and celebrations of life. The cumulative effect is akin to something of an aesthetic synesthesia.
Driven by a democratic use of technical reproduction and reconstruction, Kristian Touborg’s artistic practice involves the merging of physical and digital contexts. Drawings integrate with phone photographs, which are then rendered, printed onto fabrics and painted over. Through such a process Touborg renegotiates the typical understanding of various techniques associated with image sharing and editing tools.
Kristian Touborg (Denmark, 1987) lives and works in Copenhagen. In 2016, he obtained an MA of Fine Arts from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. His solo shows include: Galerie Mikael Andersen, Balancing Time Between Your Eyes (Copenhagen, 2020); Galleri Jacob Bjørn, Blood Moon Echoes (Aarhus, 2018); Roskilde Palæ, Dobbeltblik: a dialouge with L.A. Ring, (Roskilde, 2017); Galleri Benoni, A Deep Hum (Copenhagen, 2015); Galleri Jacob Bjørn, Strange Attraction (Aarhus, 2015); Galerie Mikael Andersen, Bell Jar Tourism (Copenhagen, 2014). His works have been exhibited in several institutional exhibitions and group shows, among others, HEART - Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Socle du Monde Biennale: Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends (Herning, 2021); Carvalho Park, As We Turn Fluent (New York, 2021); AHS Museum/Vestjyllands Kunstpavillon, 3 i 1 (Videbæk, 2018); SixtyEight Art Institute, Money Laundering (Copenhagen, 2017); no.stereo, song no1 (Cascais, Portugal, 2017); The Hospital, Human Condition(Los Angeles, 2016); Metamatic:TAF art space (Athene, 2016); Kastrupgårdsamlingen - Taarnby Art Museum (Copenhagen, 2016); KE14 - Den Frie Center for Contemporary Art (Copenhagen, 2014).
NOVO is the new independent experimental space of Eduardo Secci. It was born out in 2021 of the necessity for a dialogue between art and the languages of new contemporary. NOVO functions as an incubator of ideas encouraging the work of young artists and their future developments.
Eduardo Secci is an Italian gallery founded in 2013 in Florence with a second location in Milan from June 2021. Both spaces present a double program featuring the exhibitions of the main gallery and NOVO, its new independent experimental space.
Kristian Touborg, Pond Portal (Bell Flower), 2021, oil, acrylic, and dye sublimation on polyester and reflective fabric, 85 x 60 cm (33.4 x 23.6 in), Photo The Knack Studio, Courtesy the artist and NOVO - Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Kristian Touborg, Futura Fossil (Moonlight), 2021, oil, acrylic, and dye sublimation on polyester and reflective fabric, 85 x 60 cm (33.4 x 23.6 in), Photo The Knack Studio, Courtesy the artist and NOVO - Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Kristian Touborg, One Pool Twice, Two Drops At Once, 2021, oil, acrylic, and dye sublimation on polyester and reflective fabric, 87 x 122 cm (34.2 x 48 in), Photo The Knack Studio, Courtesy the artist and NOVO - Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Kristian Touborg, Mirror Image (Conversion, Inversion), 2021, oil, acrylic, dye sublimation, and artificial petals on polyester, 170 x 120 cm (66.9 x 47.2 in), Photo The Knack Studio, Courtesy the artist and NOVO - Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
NOVO Milano
Bright Beneath - Kristian Touborg
From December 9 to March 18, 2022 (EXTENDED)
Eduardo Secci Milano
Vibrato - Stanley Casselman
Curated by David Anfam
From December 9 to March 18, 2022 (EXTENDED)
Unmatter - Joshua Hagler, Luisa Rabbia, Maja Ruznic
Curated by Alberto Fiz
From April 28 to September 16, 2022 (NEW DATES, POSTPONED)
Via Zenale 3, Milan, Italy / +39 02 38248728 / milano@eduardosecci.com
Hours: Monday - Friday, 10:00 am - 1:30 pm / 2:30 - 7:00 pm
NOVO Firenze
Nidhal Chamekh
Curated by Pier Paolo Pancotto
From January 29 to March 12, 2022
Eduardo Secci Firenze
Upon a Time - Bea Bonafini, Daria Dmytrenko, Carla Giaccio Darias, Sahara Longe, Sophie Spedding
Curated by Edoardo Monti
From January 29 to March 12, 2022
Piazza Goldoni 2, Florence, Italy / +39 055 661356 / firenze@eduardosecci.com
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00 am - 1:30 pm / 2:30 - 7:00 pm
www.novo.ooo / hello@novo.ooo / IG @novo_projects / FB @NOVOprojects
www.eduardosecci.com / gallery@eduardosecci.com / IG @eduardoseccigallery / FB @eduardoseccicontemporary
Exhibition walkthroughs videos with artists and curators:
www.novo.ooo/exhibitions - www.eduardosecci.com/exhibitions
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO / Tamara Lorenzi
tamara@theknackstudio.com / +39 347 0712934
info@theknackstudio.com / www.theknackstudio.com
Bright Beneath
Kristian Touborg
NOVO - Eduardo Secci Milano
Milan, from December 9 to March 18, 2022 (EXTENDED)
Opening: Thursday, December 9, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Exhibition view, Bright Beneath, Kristian Touborg, NOVO Milano, 2021, Photo The Knack Studio, Courtesy the artist and NOVO - Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
From December 9 to March 18, 2022, NOVO Milano is pleased to present the solo show “Bright Beneath” of Kristian Touborg. This exhibition project is the second one dedicated by the Eduardo Secci gallery to the young Danish artist.
Shifting away from the emphasis on sculptural approaches to painting that have informed recent exhibitions, for this new body of work the artist returns to a more intimately figurative and narrative style, situated within a richly saturated emotional environment.
Whilst continuing to combine synthetic materials, oil painting technique and digital tools, Kristian Touborg’s core practice - with its focus on materiality and spatial presence - turns its attention towards complex inner dimensions rather than the general qualities derived from the study of forms.
Motifs from the Touborg’s daily life are elevated to the status of symbols, gaining universal psychological and emotional significance in the process. Elements of the uncanny and the mysterious are blended with humor and a sense of tranquility to create a complex but coherent visual language. These works are filled with references to the artist’s boyhood and to the familial sphere. However, the division between truth and the imaginary is blurred and the paintings revel in the dance between abstraction and figuration, digital and painterly sensibilities and existential concerns with death and celebrations of life. The cumulative effect is akin to something of an aesthetic synesthesia.
Driven by a democratic use of technical reproduction and reconstruction, Kristian Touborg’s artistic practice involves the merging of physical and digital contexts. Drawings integrate with phone photographs, which are then rendered, printed onto fabrics and painted over. Through such a process Touborg renegotiates the typical understanding of various techniques associated with image sharing and editing tools.
Kristian Touborg (Denmark, 1987) lives and works in Copenhagen. In 2016, he obtained an MA of Fine Arts from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. His solo shows include: Galerie Mikael Andersen, Balancing Time Between Your Eyes (Copenhagen, 2020); Galleri Jacob Bjørn, Blood Moon Echoes (Aarhus, 2018); Roskilde Palæ, Dobbeltblik: a dialouge with L.A. Ring, (Roskilde, 2017); Galleri Benoni, A Deep Hum (Copenhagen, 2015); Galleri Jacob Bjørn, Strange Attraction (Aarhus, 2015); Galerie Mikael Andersen, Bell Jar Tourism (Copenhagen, 2014). His works have been exhibited in several institutional exhibitions and group shows, among others, HEART - Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Socle du Monde Biennale: Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends (Herning, 2021); Carvalho Park, As We Turn Fluent (New York, 2021); AHS Museum/Vestjyllands Kunstpavillon, 3 i 1 (Videbæk, 2018); SixtyEight Art Institute, Money Laundering (Copenhagen, 2017); no.stereo, song no1 (Cascais, Portugal, 2017); The Hospital, Human Condition(Los Angeles, 2016); Metamatic:TAF art space (Athene, 2016); Kastrupgårdsamlingen - Taarnby Art Museum (Copenhagen, 2016); KE14 - Den Frie Center for Contemporary Art (Copenhagen, 2014).
NOVO is the new independent experimental space of Eduardo Secci. It was born out in 2021 of the necessity for a dialogue between art and the languages of new contemporary. NOVO functions as an incubator of ideas encouraging the work of young artists and their future developments.
Eduardo Secci is an Italian gallery founded in 2013 in Florence with a second location in Milan from June 2021. Both spaces present a double program featuring the exhibitions of the main gallery and NOVO, its new independent experimental space.
Kristian Touborg, Pond Portal (Bell Flower), 2021, oil, acrylic, and dye sublimation on polyester and reflective fabric, 85 x 60 cm (33.4 x 23.6 in), Photo The Knack Studio, Courtesy the artist and NOVO - Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Kristian Touborg, Futura Fossil (Moonlight), 2021, oil, acrylic, and dye sublimation on polyester and reflective fabric, 85 x 60 cm (33.4 x 23.6 in), Photo The Knack Studio, Courtesy the artist and NOVO - Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Kristian Touborg, One Pool Twice, Two Drops At Once, 2021, oil, acrylic, and dye sublimation on polyester and reflective fabric, 87 x 122 cm (34.2 x 48 in), Photo The Knack Studio, Courtesy the artist and NOVO - Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Kristian Touborg, Mirror Image (Conversion, Inversion), 2021, oil, acrylic, dye sublimation, and artificial petals on polyester, 170 x 120 cm (66.9 x 47.2 in), Photo The Knack Studio, Courtesy the artist and NOVO - Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
NOVO Milano
Bright Beneath - Kristian Touborg
From December 9 to March 18, 2022 (EXTENDED)
Eduardo Secci Milano
Vibrato - Stanley Casselman
Curated by David Anfam
From December 9 to March 18, 2022 (EXTENDED)
Unmatter - Joshua Hagler, Luisa Rabbia, Maja Ruznic
Curated by Alberto Fiz
From April 28 to September 16, 2022 (NEW DATES, POSTPONED)
Via Zenale 3, Milan, Italy / +39 02 38248728 / milano@eduardosecci.com
Hours: Monday - Friday, 10:00 am - 1:30 pm / 2:30 - 7:00 pm
NOVO Firenze
Nidhal Chamekh
Curated by Pier Paolo Pancotto
From January 29 to March 12, 2022
Eduardo Secci Firenze
Upon a Time - Bea Bonafini, Daria Dmytrenko, Carla Giaccio Darias, Sahara Longe, Sophie Spedding
Curated by Edoardo Monti
From January 29 to March 12, 2022
Piazza Goldoni 2, Florence, Italy / +39 055 661356 / firenze@eduardosecci.com
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00 am - 1:30 pm / 2:30 - 7:00 pm
www.novo.ooo / hello@novo.ooo / IG @novo_projects / FB @NOVOprojects
www.eduardosecci.com / gallery@eduardosecci.com / IG @eduardoseccigallery / FB @eduardoseccicontemporary
Exhibition walkthroughs videos with artists and curators:
www.novo.ooo/exhibitions - www.eduardosecci.com/exhibitions
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO / Tamara Lorenzi
tamara@theknackstudio.com / +39 347 0712934
info@theknackstudio.com / www.theknackstudio.com
