There's A Story in Which My Eyes Shut

April 5 - 27

Amerikanske Barnaby Whitfield er noget så enestående som en nutidskunstner, der arbejder med pastelkridtfarver på papir, og vi skal helt tilbage til renæssancens store mestre for at finde noget, der nærmer sig Barnabys niveau. Hans tekniske kunnen er forbavsende og Whitfields figurer og fantasifulde fortællinger springer ud fra fladen og overfalder beskueren.

Det var netop dette overfald vi blev udsat for, da vi første gang blev præsenteret for Barnaby Whitfield I New York for snart 3 år siden. Det var “kærlighed” ved første blik og Gallery Poulsen påbegyndte straks arbejdet med at få Barnaby til Danmark. Han har siden 2011 deltaget i 3 gruppeudstillinger i galleriet og har allerede opbygget en solid fanskare af samlere i Danmark og Skandinavien.

Barnaby Whitfields værker er kapitler i en overlevelseshistorie, der foregår i grænselandet mellem barndommens traumer og galopperende hallucinationer. I Whitfields pastelfarvede drømme bliver faderfiguren, symboliseret ved Klaus Kinski eller Jon Voight, slået ihjel. Moderfiguren er også med iført en kviltet nederdel. Kunstneren selv bliver halshugget, kun for at vågne forvirret op igen. Drømmerejsen, der udfolder sig henover udstillingens serie af malerier, er ekstrem og ender i en kroning af Barnaby Whitfield som enearving og hersker over hans egen dystopiske verden.

Den eksotiske flora og fauna i Whitfields hjemstat, Florida, spiller en vigtig rolle i Whitfields vilde univers, der myldrer med flamingoer, hibiscus og blomstrende jadevinstok. Men lige nu gælder det kolde Danmark, hvor vi bliver inviteret med til en eksotisk, kaotisk og til tider erotisk bevidsthedsudvidende rejse til Barnaby Whitfields allerinderste. En rejse der ikke altid er egnet for børn!!

Udstillingen "There's A Story In Which My Eyes Shut" hos Gallery Poulsen er kunstnerens første soloudstilling uden for USA. Udstillingen tæller 12 helt nye værker, alle på papir. Galleriet vil I denne anledning bliver indrettet og malet som portrætrum man kender fra museer over hele verden, for at give den helt rigtige oplevelse af Barnaby Whitfields fantastiske værker.

Barnaby Whitfield kommer selv til København og stiller gerne op til interviews.

Spørgsmål vedr. udstillingen og interview med Barnaby Whitfield rettes til Morten Poulsen +45 4015 5588 / [email protected]
Pressebilleder i høj opløsning findes nederst i denne mail, klik blot på de små thumps herunder.

Pastel-colored nightmare in the Meatpacking District!!!

American Barnaby Whitfield is something so unique as a contemporary artist who works with pastel colors on paper, and we have to go back to the Renaissance’s great masters to find something that approaches Barnaby's level. His technical ability is amazing and Whitfield's characters and imaginative stories jump out from the surface and attack the viewer.

It was precisely this attack we were exposed to when we were first introduced to Barnaby Whitfield in New York for nearly 3 years ago. It was "love" at first sight and Gallery Poulsen immediately began working on getting Barnaby to Denmark. He has since 2011 participated in three group exhibitions at gallery and has already built up a solid fan base of collectors in Denmark and Scandinavia.

Barnaby Whitfield's works are chapters in a survival story set in the borderland between childhood trauma and galloping hallucinations. In Whitfield's pastel-colored dreams the father figure, symbolized by Klaus Kinski or Jon Voight, gets killed. The mother figure is also presented wearing a quilted skirt. The artist himself will be beheaded, only to wake up confused again. The journey that unfolds throughout this series of paintings is extreme and ends in a coronation of Barnaby Whitfield as sole heir and ruler of his own dystopian world.

The exotic flora and fauna in Whitfield's home state, Florida, plays an important role in Whitfield's wild universe that is swarming with flamingos, hibiscus and flowering jade vine. But right now it is about cold Denmark, where we are invited to an exotic and sometimes erotic mind-trip to Barnaby Whitfield's innermost. A journey that is not always suitable for children.

The exhibition "There's A Story In Which My Eyes Shut" at Gallery Poulsen is the artist´s first solo exhibition outside the US. The exhibition counts 12 brand new works, all on paper. The gallery will at this occasion be decorated and painted as a portrait room known from museums all over the world, to provide just the right experience for Barnaby Whitfield's great works.

Barnaby Whitfield is coming to Copenhagen and is willing to do interviews.

Questions related to the exhibition and interview with Barnaby Whitfield are addressed to Morten Poulsen +45 4015 5588 / [email protected]
Press photos in high resolution can be found at the bottom of this email, just click on the small thumps below.