The exhibitions of the Scandinavian duo Elmgreen & Dragset are always excellent, always a point of humor to make reflect... And with their new exhibition This Is How We Bite Our Tongue at Whitechapel Gallery, it's always witty and poignant.
Powerless Structures, small version, bronze for Miami Beach 2014
WHO
Based in Berlin, Michael Elmgreen (born in 1961 in Copenhagen) and Ingar Dragset (born in 1969 in Trondheim, Norway) worked together since 1995. And in 2012, they made their mark in public art with Powerless Structures, a boy on a rocking horse on Trafalgar Square (London), an act of pacifism (never forget your child's soul) despite the bellicose military statues of the square.
Powerless Structures (Source - Wiki)
"People ask, Why do you use humour in your works ? It's pure angr management. It's better to scream with laughter than just scream" - Elmgreen & Dragset
They met in 1994 in a nightclub in Copenhaguen, Elmgreen was an industrial designer and Dragset was in an indie band called Asia Today. They have worked as a duo since 1995. In 2006, they presented The Welfare Show at the Serpentine Gallery (London) about the welfare system in western society with a series of boring room in order to show the bureaucratic aspect of the public sector.
Like this twelve guards in an empty museum room :
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Reg(u)arding the Guards, installation view from the exhibition The Welfare Show.
Or my favorite Mordern Moses about a wax baby lying in front of ATM Cash machine :
Mordern Moses, installation view from the exhibition The Welfare Show.
"They make us aware of the configurations and constraints that suround us all" - Laura Smith, curator.
Now the duo is based permanently in Berlin after the Brexit. Their future projects will be :
- in October, on the Place Vendome (Paris), the installation of 100 bronze starfish for the FIAC Art Faire,
- and next year, in Miami, the installation of Bent Pool.
Invisible, 2017, sculpture for Perrotin Gallery
WHAT
With this exbibition This Is How We Bite Our Tongue (London, 27 September 2018 – 13 January 2019), this is a major survey of their works with 26 pieces spanning more than 20 years of practice and 6 new works. It's a great way to discover their universe.
** Pregnant White Maid**, sculpture, 2017 Perrotin
The title refers to the stereotypical British penchant for reserve and pent-up emotion.
"The work shows how tradition is embedded in all British institutions. Britain still thinks it's an empire. It's crazy" - Elmgreen.
Another theme is the issue of masculinity and violence with the work One Day, a boy starring at a rifle.
One Day, 2015
Exceptional duo to discover or rediscover.
Sources
Elmgreen & Dragset
Whitechapel Gallery
Perrotin Galerie
The Welfare Show at Serpentine
Elmgreen & Dragset on Wiki
Old Post Eye of Art
Eye of Art #15 Natisa Jones
Eye of Art #14 OSGEMEOS
Eye of Art #13 Slep
Eye of Art #12 Frida Escobedo
Eye of Art #11 Ayesha Sultana
Bonus Video
ELMGREEN & DRAGSET "Past Tomorrow" at Galerie Perrotin, New York
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Hello @heroldius, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!