Anna Bjerger: Elsewhere

20 maj 20162 jul 2016

The point of departure in Bjerger’s paintings is found, anonymous photographs. She works from seemingly redundant images. Images whose shelf life is long passed. Photographs from outdated travel guides, technical handbooks, knitting magazines. She hoards this source material and mines it for her subjects.

In this new series of works Bjerger has kept her head down. The paintings consciously feature no skies and no horizons. The gaze is downwards and earthbound, allowing for different perspectives, viewpoints and a more analytical approach to the painted subjects. The viewpoint may be consistent but the subjects are manyfold, from Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty to The Muppets. As in the title, the paintings in Elsewhere suggest that the motifs continue literally or metaphorically beyond the painted surface. Something is happening off stage, unseen. These are glimpses of a detail or a moment within a wider, unseen view. Bjerger talks of the humbling gesture of the bending her head down into the works, the downward gaze reflected in the paintings. This is an introverted view as opposed to an optimistic upward look at the world.

Kilde: David Risley Gallery