http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_05break_v40.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_011_installation-view_v2.jpg


WHO IS THE MASTER AND WHO IS THE SLAVE, 2018
Artificial Christmas tree, Christmas tree decorations, tree skirt
Dimensions variable to installation

Kapital Melancholia
Funen Art Academy | Skulptursalen
Odense, Denmark

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_010_Mikkel-Carl_v2.jpg


WHO IS THE MASTER AND WHO IS THE SLAVE, 2018 (detail)
Artificial Christmas tree, Christmas tree decorations, tree skirt
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_008_installation-view_crop.jpg


WHO IS THE MASTER AND WHO IS THE SLAVE, 2018
Artificial Christmas tree, Christmas tree decorations, tree skirt
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_3878_v2.jpg


WHO IS THE MASTER AND WHO IS THE SLAVE, 2018
Artificial Christmas tree, Christmas tree decorations, tree skirt
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_072_Installation-view_v2.jpg


WHO IS THE MASTER AND WHO IS THE SLAVE, 2018
Artificial Christmas tree, Christmas tree decorations, tree skirt
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_4break_v8.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_Black_00.jpg


DISTINCTION WITHOUT DIFFERENCE (BLACK, 2018
Ballpoint pen on paper
21 x 29,7cm

GIFC – Artist picks series, Balcony Gallery
Lisbon, Portugal

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_1break-kopi 5_v6.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_Black_01.jpg


DISTINCTION WITHOUT DIFFERENCE (BLACK, 2018
Ballpoint pen on paper
21 x 29,7cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_1break-kopi 3_v8.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_Black_02.jpg


DISTINCTION WITHOUT DIFFERENCE (BLACK, 2018
Ballpoint pen on paper
21 x 29,7cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_1break-kopi 2_v21.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_Black_03.jpg


DISTINCTION WITHOUT DIFFERENCE (BLACK, 2018
Ballpoint pen on paper
21 x 29,7cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_1break-kopi 2_v22.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_Black_05.jpg


DISTINCTION WITHOUT DIFFERENCE (BLACK, 2018
Ballpoint pen on paper
21 x 29,7cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_1break-kopi 4_v7.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_detail.jpg


DISTINCTION WITHOUT DIFFERENCE (BLACK, 2018 (detail)
Ballpoint pen on paper
21 x 29,7cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_1break-kopi 2_v20.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_Black_04.jpg


DISTINCTION WITHOUT DIFFERENCE (BLACK, 2018
Ballpoint pen on paper
21 x 29,7cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_1break-kopi 2_v19.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_3.jpg


Installation view

Wunderkammer – Liquid Form
Esbjerg Kunstmuseum
Esbjerg, Denmark

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_7309_v3.jpg


UNTITLED (THOSE WHO ARE AWAKE HAVE A WORLD IN COMMON, WHILE EACH PERSON ASLEEP HAS A WORLD OF HER OWN), 2017
Acrylic paint, spray on dyed cotton fabric mounted on mirror foil, aluminium stretchers
39 x 45cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_2.jpg


Installation view

Wunderkammer – Liquid Form
Esbjerg Kunstmuseum
Esbjerg

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_Ikke-navngivet-2.jpg


UNTITLED (THOSE WHO ARE AWAKE HAVE A WORLD IN COMMON, WHILE EACH PERSON ASLEEP HAS A WORLD OF HER OWN), 2017
Acrylic paint, spray on dyed cotton fabric mounted on mirror foil, aluminium stretchers
40 x 60cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_Ikke-navngivet-1_v2.jpg


UNTITLED (THOSE WHO ARE AWAKE HAVE A WORLD IN COMMON, WHILE EACH PERSON ASLEEP HAS A WORLD OF HER OWN), 2017
Acrylic paint, spray on dyed cotton fabric mounted on mirror foil, aluminium stretchers
120 x 160cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_1.jpg


Installation view

Wunderkammer – Liquid Form
Esbjerg Kunstmuseum
Esbjerg

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_7325-(1)_v2.jpg


UNTITLED (THOSE WHO ARE AWAKE HAVE A WORLD IN COMMON, WHILE EACH PERSON ASLEEP HAS A WORLD OF HER OWN), 2017
Acrylic paint, spray on dyed cotton fabric mounted on mirror foil, aluminium stretchers
92 x 92cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_4break kopi_v5.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_2898.jpg


Installation view

NATURE – Home and Workplace
Johannes Larsen Museet

Kerteminde, Denmark

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_3028.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017 (detail)
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_2993.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017 (detail)
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_2954.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017 (detail)
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_2907.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_2968.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017 (detail)
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_2940_1.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_2965.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017 (detail)
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_3077.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_3110.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017 (detail)
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_3049_1.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_2984.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017 (detail)
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_3089_1.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_3021.jpg


SECOND NATURE, 2017 (detail)
Apple tree from artist's garden, graphite, lacquer.
700 x 400 x 280cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_4break kopi 2_v40.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0667_v2.jpg


Installation view

Den Frie Udstilling
Den Frie – Centre of Contemporary Art
Copenhagen, Denmark

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_7326_v2.jpg


UNTITLED (THOSE WHO ARE AWAKE HAVE A WORLD IN COMMON, WHILE EACH PERSON ASLEEP HAS A WORLD OF HER OWN), 2017
Acrylic paint, spray on dyed cotton fabric mounted on mirror foil, aluminium stretchers
100x100 cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_1_v2.jpg


THOSE WHO ARE AWAKE HAVE A WORLD IN COMMON, WHILE EACH PERSON ASLEEP HAS A WORLD OF HER OWN, 2017
Acrylic paint, spray on dyed cotton fabric mounted on mirror foil, aluminium stretchers
115x170 cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_7391_detail.jpg


THOSE WHO ARE AWAKE HAVE A WORLD IN COMMON, WHILE EACH PERSON ASLEEP HAS A WORLD OF HER OWN, 2017 (detail)
Acrylic paint, spray on dyed cotton fabric mounted on mirror foil, aluminium stretchers
115x170 cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_6941_v2.jpg


UNTITLED (THOSE WHO ARE AWAKE HAVE A WORLD IN COMMON, WHILE EACH PERSON ASLEEP HAS A WORLD OF HIS OWN), 2017
Acrylic paint, spray on dyed cotton fabric mounted on mirror foil, aluminium stretchers
39x45 cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_7331_v2.jpg


UNTITLED (THOSE WHO ARE AWAKE HAVE A WORLD IN COMMON, WHILE EACH PERSON ASLEEP HAS A WORLD OF HER OWN), 2017
Acrylic paint, spray on dyed cotton fabric mounted on mirror foil, aluminium stretchers
120x120 cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_7304_v2.jpg


UNTITLED (THOSE WHO ARE AWAKE HAVE A WORLD IN COMMON, WHILE EACH PERSON ASLEEP HAS A WORLD OF HER OWN), 2017
Acrylic paint, spray on dyed cotton fabric mounted on mirror foil, aluminium stretchers
60x80 cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_4break kopi 2_v22.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_032_IMG_1910.jpg


Mikkel Carl
Terrified of Society and Its Unclean Bite

M23 Projects
New York, USA

120 Waterbury St.

#

Terrified of Society and Its Unclean Bite extends Mikkel Carl’s pre-occupation with the repurposing of industrial space into that of art. Carl previously executed projects inside a garage-cum-gallery (New Paintings Caught in the Headlights of Parking Cars at Ringsted Galleriet, 2012), at the obsolete Danish power plant Nordkraft (We Are All Workers at Kunsthal Nord, 2014), and at a former wholesale farmers market now being built into condos (Engros, Grønttorvet, 2017).

Through tight spatial propositions, the artist suggests that the implications of such a process of spatial appropriation are at once formal, semiotic, and economic—not dissimilar from the fundamental logic of the ready-made. This dialectical looping back between object and meta-object, between macro and micro scales of signification, characterizes much of Carl’s work; a method he has referred to as “associative grammar.” Here, exhibition contexts are considered and approached as linguistic structures in their own right, their signification ripe for deconstruction and critical intervention. These may range from poignant socioeconomic critiques to hoax epistemological propositions, often presented simultaneously and side-by-side, causing bewilderment in the viewer. By riffing histories of minimalism, conceptual art, institutional critique, and relational aesthetics in both sincere and highly satirical ways, Carl questions the very legitimacy of contemporary art’s modus operandi.

The monolithic work specific to M23’s Morgan Avenue project room consists of a 12 foot, concrete wall built inside the gallery space, effectively bifurcating it in two. By rendering one side inaccessible to the viewer, Carl produces a spatial self-awareness in the spirit of classical minimalist sculpture. The piece can also be understood to reference the Berlin Wall, as well as Richard Serra’s controversial 1981 public sculpture Tilted Arc, both by-gone monumental architectures. Shared amongst these projects is a very direct attempt of controlling and commenting on space and its politics through analog and architectural means loaded with heavy-handed symbolism—as recently encapsulated by the border wall proposed to separate Mexico from the United States. Thus, perhaps a more immediately congenial source of inspiration is Michael Asher’s 1974 removal of the partition wall that separated the office space from the exhibition space at Claire S. Copley Gallery in Los Angeles. On two previous occasions, Carl has engaged this work by partly tearing down partition walls he had built in existing door openings between exhibition spaces, giving the viewer a false sense of something hidden now being exposed (A Thing Is a Whole In the Thing It Is Not, 2012/2015). More recently, the artist covered existing exhibition architecture at Aarhus Art Museum with variously colored wall elements from previous exhibition designs, while also leaving behind the install crew’s paint-splattered Bauhausian folding chairs (What Cannot Be Imagined Cannot Be Seen, 2015/2017).

The exhibition continues with a series of delicate wall-based works that inaugurates M23’s ancillary space at
120 Waterbury Street, Brooklyn. They are made from purposefully damaged chrome metal foil applied to aluminum stretchers, so that the “paintings” mirror their surroundings — including visitors, space, and surrounding works, producing ever-digressing spatial reflections between them. The series Untitled (You Hate the Fact that You Bought the Dream and They Sold You One), references an eponymous public work the artist completed in Denmark by installing self-adhesive mirror foil on poster stands in an urban railway station, instigating a moment of reflection in bypassing commuters in the place of conventional advertising. Re-entering a gallery context, Carl inverts this reflective gesture and seemingly renders it a hollowed, commoditized experience, radically questioning the supposed sincerity of the artistic gesture, Carl’s own included. Ultimately, no answer or fixed position is provided by the artist: only a persistent un-doing and re-doing of the syntax of art.

by Jeppe Ugelvig
curator, and freelance critic on art and fashion.

#

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_014_IMG_2110.jpg


I’M FINE, 2018
T-shirt (unique)
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_016_IMG_2020.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_017_IMG_2009_v2.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018
Hot glue, silver leaf on chrome mirror foil mounted on canvas, aluminium stretcher bars
110 x 183cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_018_.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_019_IMG_2050.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018
Hot glue, silver leaf on chrome mirror foil mounted on canvas, aluminium stretcher bars
58 x 58cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_020_IMG_2100.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018 (detail)
Hot glue, silver leaf on chrome mirror foil mounted on canvas, aluminium stretcher bars
58 x 58cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_023_.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018
Hot glue, silver leaf on chrome mirror foil mounted on canvas, aluminium stretcher bars
123 x 98cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_022_IMG_2103.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018 (detail)
Hot glue, silver leaf on chrome mirror foil mounted on canvas, aluminium stretcher bars
123 x 98cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_021_IMG_1951.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018
Hot glue, silver leaf on chrome mirror foil mounted on canvas, aluminium stretcher bars
123 x 98cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_028.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_029.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018
Hot glue, silver leaf on chrome mirror foil mounted on canvas, aluminium stretcher bars
98 x 129cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_025_.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_026_IMG_2062.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018
Hot glue, silver leaf on chrome mirror foil mounted on canvas, aluminium stretcher bars
110 x 190cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_031_IMG_2104.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018 (detail)
Hot glue, silver leaf on chrome mirror foil mounted on canvas, aluminium stretcher bars
110 x 190cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_024_IMG_2083.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_2break_v19.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_001_IMG_1651.jpg


Mikkel Carl
Terrified of Society and Its Unclean Bite

M23 Projects
New York, USA

209 Morgan Av.

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_003_IMG_1769.jpg


TERRIFIED OF SOCIETY AND ITS UNCLEAN BITE, 2018
Drywall, compound, wooden beams, rebar
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_008_IMG_1809.jpg


TERRIFIED OF SOCIETY AND ITS UNCLEAN BITE, 2018 (detail)
Drywall, compound, wooden beams, rebar
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_002_IMG_1887.jpg


TERRIFIED OF SOCIETY AND ITS UNCLEAN BITE, 2018 (detail)
Drywall, compound, wooden beams, rebar
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_010_IMG_1763-1_1.jpg


TERRIFIED OF SOCIETY AND ITS UNCLEAN BITE, 2018 (detail)
Drywall, compound, wooden beams, rebar
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_009_IMG_1863_1.jpg


TERRIFIED OF SOCIETY AND ITS UNCLEAN BITE, 2018 (detail)
Drywall, compound, wooden beams, rebar
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_004_IMG_1816_2.jpg


TERRIFIED OF SOCIETY AND ITS UNCLEAN BITE, 2018 (detail)
Drywall, compound, wooden beams, rebar
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_007_IMG_1719.jpg


TERRIFIED OF SOCIETY AND ITS UNCLEAN BITE, 2018
Drywall, compound, wooden beams, rebar
Dimensions variable to installation

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_4break kopi 2_v38.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0887.jpg


Installation view

Selvspejlinger II
Esbjerg Kunstmuseum
Esbjerg, Denmark

#

Når man står over for Mikkel Carls spejlserie Untitled (You Hate the Fact that You Bought the Dream and They Sold You One) er det ikke ligefrem det forventede, velkendte spejlbillede af en selv, de kaster tilbage. Hver spejloverflade har gennem kunstnerens indgreb ændret sig så markant, at der ikke længere er tale om konventionelle refleksioner. For Carls spejle rummer flere indkalkulerede mangler og omhyggeligt udførte fejl.

Hvert af værkets tre dele er skabt af spejlfolie, der er monteret på lærred og udspændt over en aluminiumsramme. Men både før, under og efter opspændingen har Mikkel Carl ridset og bearbejdet folien på alle tænkelige måder og således bevidst mimet de mange form for uheld, der kan overgå en skrøbelig, blankpoleret overflade. De steder, hvor den ellers modstandsdygtige folie bliver brudt, svejser han den efterfølgende sammen for siden at belægge de hærdede fuger sirligt med bl.a. bladsølv. Desuden sprøjtemaler han spejlfolien med aluminium enkelte steder, efterpoleret med grafit, og lader således store, sorte plamager fremstå i den blanke overflade. Derved opstår der et absurd fravær i spejlbillederne - en form for blokade af både det rum og de personer, der ellers inddrages i spejlet. I stedet fremkalder disse sorte huller en illusion af reel dybde og dermed et sted i værket at lede efter mening og bogstaveligt talt reflektere over sin egen væren, hvilket også selve titlen (et citat fra rapperen Drake) You Hate the Fact that You Bought the Dream and They Sold You One befordrer.

Mikkel Carls spejlværker bygger ikke - som så mange andre af hans arbejder - på fundne genstande. Her er der snarere tale om en form for opdateret maleri, der er karakteristisk for Mikkel Carl. Og selv om de umiddelbart kan ses som en kommentar til selfie-kulturen, hvor alle er optaget af at se sig selv, rummer spejlværkerne samtidig på et dybere niveau referencer til, hvordan kunstens relation til virkeligheden er blevet opfattet siden renæssancen - bl.a. som et spejl, der holdes op for virkeligheden. Gennem Carls bearbejdning af spejlfladerne og dermed de specielle molesterede, reparerede og delvist blokerede refleksioner, de skaber af både personer, andre kunstværker og kunstinstitutionens sale mv., rejses der i denne serie spørgsmål ikke alene om kunstens funktion, men også om kunstinstitutionens kanonisering af kunstnere og deres værker.

af Inge Merete Kjeldgaard
direktør for Esbjerg Kunstmuseum.

#

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0890_1.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0891.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018
Graphite, aluminum spray, hot glue, silver leaf on chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
115 x 230cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0856.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018 (detail)
Graphite, aluminum spray, hot glue, silver leaf on chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
115 x 230cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0865.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018
Graphite, aluminum spray, hot glue, silver leaf on chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
115 x 230cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0785.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018 (detail)
Graphite, aluminum spray, hot glue, silver leaf on chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
115 x 230cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0871.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018 (detail)
Graphite, aluminum spray, hot glue, silver leaf on chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
115 x 230cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0859.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018 (detail)
Graphite, aluminum spray, hot glue, silver leaf on chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
115 x 230cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0790_1.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018
Graphite, aluminum spray, hot glue, silver leaf on chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
115 x 230cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0788_1.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018 (detail)
Graphite, aluminum spray, hot glue, silver leaf on chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
115 x 230cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0874.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2018 (detail)
Graphite, aluminum spray, hot glue, silver leaf on chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
115 x 230cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0798.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2017
Chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
100 x 100cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0801.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2017
Chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
100 x 100cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0808.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2017
Chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
100 x 100cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0836.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2017
Chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
65 x 65cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0824.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2017
Chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
65 x 65cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_IMG_0844.jpg


UNTITLED (YOU HATE THE FACT THAT YOU BOUGHT THE DREAM AND THEY SOLD YOU ONE), 2017 (detail)
Chrome metal foil, aluminum stretcher bars.
65 x 65cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_4break kopi 9_v6.jpg
 
 
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Mikkel Carl
Panem et Circenses

Galleri Jacob Bjørn
Aarhus, Denmark

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Galleri Jacob Bjørn is pleased to present Panem et Circenses, a solo exhibition by Danish artist Mikkel Carl. The exhibition title is Latin for “Bread and Games”, a figure of speech referring to superficial means of appeasement. Within a political context, the metonymic phrase means to generate public approval not by excellence in office, but by satisfying only the most base requirements of a populace: food and entertainment.

The exhibition extends Mikkel Carl’s pre-occupation with the repurposing of industrial space into that of art. Through tight spatial propositions, the artist suggests that the implications of such a process of spatial appropriation are at once formal, semiotic, and economic—not dissimilar from the fundamental logic of the ready-made. This dialectical looping back between object and meta-object, between macro and micro scales of signification, characterizes much of Carl’s work; a method he has referred to as “associative grammar.” Here, exhibition contexts are considered and approached as linguistic structures in their own right, their signification ripe for deconstruction and critical intervention. These may range from poignant socioeconomic critiques to hoax epistemological propositions, often presented simultaneously and side-by-side, causing bewilderment in the viewer. By riffing histories of minimalism, conceptual art, institutional critique, and relational aesthetics in both sincere and highly satirical ways, Carl questions the very legitimacy of contemporary art’s modus operandi.

Mikkel Carl’s monolithic work A Vague Nothing at the Intersection of Subject and Object (2017) consists of 6 individual faux steel plates each measuring 5 x 122 x 305 cm. They may be combined in any number of ways depending on the exhibition context; e.g. as an upright wall bifurcating the gallery in two, or as narrow passage. For Panem et Circenses, the work has been adapted to Galleri Jacob Bjørn's high-ceilinged gallery space located in the defunct Ceres brewery, where it will partially block a high sitting suite of windows. This intervention produces a spatial self-awareness in the viewer, in the spirit of classical minimalist sculpture. Another returning, and perhaps more congenial, source of inspiration is Michael Asher’s 1974 removal of the partition wall that separated the office space from the exhibition space at Claire S. Copley Gallery in Los Angeles. Recently, Carl engaged this work by covering existing exhibition architecture at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum with wall elements from previous exhibition designs, while also leaving behind the install crew’s paint-splattered Bauhausian folding chairs (What Cannot Be Imagined Cannot Be Seen, 2015/2017). Carl’s current exhibition Terrified of Society and Its Unclean Bite (2018) at M23 Projects in New York, similarly features the eponymous towering faux reinforced concrete wall, effectively rendering one half of the gallery space completely inaccessible to the viewer.

Panem et Circenses also contains a series of “paintings” made from purposefully damaged gold metal foil applied to aluminum stretchers, mirroring their surroundings in a stimulating, busted fashion — including the visitors and the steel plates. This produces ever-digressing spatial reflections between them. The series Untitled (Glamour Is for Those Who Can Afford not To Be Glamorous), references a public work Mikkel Carl did at Sydhavn Station installing self-adhesive mirror foil on poster stands, instigating a moment of reflection in bypassing commuters in the place of conventional advertising. Initially this work was fabricated in chrome metal foil, and so it was not until a long-time collector of Carl’s work commissioned a “painting in gold,” that he took up this loaded material. Emphatically re-entering a commercial context, Carl inverts the original reflectivity of the public work and seems to render it a hollowed, commoditized experience, radically questioning the supposed sincerity of the artistic gesture, his own included. Ultimately, no answer or fixed position is provided by the artist: only a persistent un-doing and re-doing of the syntax of art.

by Jeppe Ugelvig
curator, and freelance critic on art and fashion

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http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_001_IMG_2697.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_002_IMG_2578.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_003_v4.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, silver leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
170 x 110cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_004_IMG_2728.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018 (detail)
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, silver leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
170 x 110cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_005_v4.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018 (detail)
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, silver leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
170 x 110cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_012_IMG_2328.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, silver leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
170 x 110cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_006_IMG_2708.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
68 x 86cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_007_IMG_2740.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018 (detail)
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
68 x 86cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_008.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018 (detail)
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
68 x 86cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_005_5_IMG_2584.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_010_IMG_2702.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
100 x 100cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_011_IMG_2209.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
100 x 100cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_009_IMG_2605.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_013_IMG_2719.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
55 x 55cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_023_IMG_2561.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_024_IMG_2561_1.jpg


A VAGUE NOTHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF SUBJECT AND OBJECT, 2018 (2017)
Graphite, laquer, rust, hot glue on double-sided fiberboard panels
Dimensions variable (each:305 x 122cm)

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_026_IMG_2837.jpg

A VAGUE NOTHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF SUBJECT AND OBJECT, 2018 (2017)
Graphite, laquer, rust, hot glue on doublesided fiberboard panels
Dimensions variable (each:305 x 122cm)

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_015_IMG_2416.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_016_IMG_2750.jpg


A VAGUE NOTHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF SUBJECT AND OBJECT, 2018 (2017)
Graphite, laquer, rust, hot glue on doublesided fiberboard panels
Dimensions variable (each:305 x 122cm)

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_017_IMG_2754.jpg


A VAGUE NOTHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF SUBJECT AND OBJECT, 2018 (2017) (detail)
Graphite, laquer, rust, hot glue on double-sided fiberboard panels
Dimensions variable (each:305 x 122cm)

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_028_IMG_2150_v4.jpg


A VAGUE NOTHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF SUBJECT AND OBJECT, 2018 (2017)
Graphite, laquer, rust, hot glue on double-sided fiberboard panels
Dimensions variable (each:305 x 122cm)

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_031_IMG_2774_1.jpg


A VAGUE NOTHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF SUBJECT AND OBJECT, 2018 (2017) (detail)
Graphite, laquer, rust, hot glue on double-sided fiberboard panels
Dimensions variable (each:305 x 122cm)

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_029_IMG_2830.jpg


A VAGUE NOTHING AT THE INTERSECTION OF SUBJECT AND OBJECT, 2018 (2017)
Graphite, laquer, rust, hot glue on double-sided fiberboard panels
Dimensions variable (each:305 x 122cm)

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_027_IMG_2475.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_022_IMG_2490.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_020_IMG_2753.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
55 x 55cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_033_IMG_2290.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018 (detail)
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
55 x 55cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_034_IMG_2265.jpg


UNTITLED (GLAMOUR IS FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD NOT TO BE GLAMOROUS), 2018 (detail)
Mirror foil mounted on canvas, hot glue, gold leaf, cobber spray, acid, aluminum stretchers
55 x 55cm

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_018_IMG_2397.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_032_IMG_2548.jpg


Installation view

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_4break kopi 2_v37.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_47_Specta_v3.jpg


PICK A CARD ANY CARD, 2018
Deck of gold-plated playing card*

*upon purchase buyers will draw a card at random

Specta Surplus Store
Galleri Specta
Copenhagen, Denmark

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_Pick-a-Card-Any-Card.jpg


PICK A CARD ANY CARD, 2018 (detail)
Deck of gold-plated playing card*

*upon purchase buyers will draw a card at random

 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_05break_v29.jpg
 
 
http://mikkelcarl.com/files/gimgs/th-96_2break_v20.jpg