MIKKEL CARL

Mikkel Carl
Truth Is like Poetry

Nikolaj Kunsthal
Copenhagen, Denmark

2023

All photos: David Stjernholm

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From the 12-metre-high ceiling vault at the Lower Gallery hangs a huge, apparently metal discus. With its slowly rotating mirror, it places us in a specific space, yet changes constantly. Thus, in a double sense, it is an illusionist work. It is made from acrylic sheets, riveted and ‘soldered’ together, so confusingly the structure resembles distressed, chromed steel. The surface was then laboriously scratched and fitted with fake finger marks as artificial, lifelike details.

This fact of everything not necessarily being what it seems is a recurring theme in Mikkel Carl’s work. This is also reflected in the title of this exhibition, Truth Is Like Poetry, referring to the fact that truth is never clear-cut but always aesthetic and open to interpretation – just like a poem. However, the sentence originates from an altercation in the US comedy drama, The Big Short about the 2008 financial crisis. The reply is: “...and most people fucking hate poetry.”

In this exhibition by Mikkel Carl, we cannot even be sure of the poetic truth of art in relation to reality despite the fact that it is this very aesthetic interaction with the things and spaces of the world that forms the very core of this artist’s work. His approach is usually site-specific or site-sensitive, as he puts it.

Like Mikkel Carl’s works, even the old church is not what it seems. As soon as you delve into its history or scratch the surface, you reveal other layers of meaning. Back in the 16th century, St. Nicholas Church was a stronghold of the Reformation and Hans Tausen - the leading Lutheran theologian of the time - was its pastor. At the time, Protestantism was all about the relationship of the individual to God’s truth. But over the years the church has had many different functions. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, it was also a hub for the avant-garde art movement, Fluxus, and since 1981 it has been an art centre.

What interests Mikkel Carl is the interaction between context and object, and how it affects our bodily experience of space - but always in a minimalist way, with a simple statement and maximum effect. A good example is the fact that he has covered all the windows of the church red plastic film. Like a quasi-self-coloured mosaic, this manipulates the daylight - just as it always has done in churches.

His interest in materiality, signs and scale is also evident in the towering wall where the church’s altar would once have been. It is ostensibly built of reinforced concrete. In reality it is made up of painted panels, fitted onto an existing partition. In a way, the title of the work What Cannot Be Imagined Cannot Be Seen says it all.

The exhibition Truth Is Like Poetry invites us to make sense of everything we see whether or not it is what we think it is.

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Installation view

IF YOU ARE DREAMING YOU ARE DEAD, 2023
Styrofoam, micro cement, acrylic paint 20 × 60 × 120 cm (8 works)

WHAT CANNOT BE IMAGINED CANNOT BE SEEN, 2023 (2015)
Drywall, micro cement, existing partition wall 360 × 700 cm

EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT READY FOR THE DAY, IT CAN’T ALWAYS BE NIGHT, 2023
Transparent red foil
Dimensions variable upon installation

THE GREAT ORDER OF THE CENTURIES IS BORN AGAIN, 2020
Masonite, graphite paint, oxide powder, lacquer, hot glue, graphite powder
120 × 120 × 120 cm (9 works)

Installation view

TRUTH IS LIKE POETRY, 2023
Acrylic mirror, aluminum rivets, epoxy glue, aluminum leaf, wire, rotation motor
360 × 360 × 2,5 cm

TRUTH IS LIKE POETRY, 2023
Acrylic mirror, aluminum rivets, epoxy glue, aluminum leaf, wire, rotation motor
360 × 360 × 2,5 cm

TRUTH IS LIKE POETRY, 2023
Acrylic mirror, aluminum rivets, epoxy, aluminum leaf, rotation motor
90 x 90 cm

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

Mikkel Carl
Like a Pop Song on the Last Night on Earth

Jacob Bjorn Gallery
Aarhus, Denmark

2023

All photos: Jacob Friis-Holm Nielsen, Jacob Bjorn Gallery

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10 years ago, Mikkel Carl started working with titanium. Based on a technique called anodizing, he creates vivid, colorful paintings entirely without the use of pigment. By running an electrical current through the metal plate, an invisible pattern of microscopic crystals is formed, which refracts the light in the color spectrum of the rainbow. More specifically any number of volts between 0 and 110 has a color. For instance, 15 volts is purple, 25 volts is blue, 40 volts is yellow, and 75 volts is pink. Using car battery acid, said current is directed onto the titanium plate using a series of painterly techniques developed by the artist over the years.

In the middle of the room, a rotating disk – a disco ball of sorts – seemingly made from banged-up chrome steel, enables you to see yourself and others contemplate the paintings.

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Installation view

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
50 x 50 cm

Installation view

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
24 x 24 cm

Installation view

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
125 x 125 cm

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
125 x 125 cm

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
125 x 125 cm

Installation view

INSTALLATION VIEW

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
19 x 24 cm

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
19 x 24 cm

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
19 x 24 cm

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
125 x 200 cm

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
125 x 200 cm

Installation view

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
50 x 50 cm

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
50 x 50 cm

UNTITLED (LIKE A POP SONG ON THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH, 2023
Anodized titanium
50 x 50 cm

TRUTH IS LIKE POETRY, 2023
Acrylic mirror, aluminum rivets, epoxy, aluminum leaf, rotation motor
90 x 90 cm

Mikkel Carl
I Am Inside You Are Inside Me

Kunsthal Kongegaarden
Korsør, Denmark

2023

CHEMISTRY IN THE FLOW OF DYING, 2023
Copper leaf, copper paint on wood panel
25 x 25 cm

Installation view

CHEMISTRY IN THE FLOW OF DYING, 2023
Copper leaf, copper paint, hot glue
on wood panel
25 x 40 cm

CHEMISTRY IN THE FLOW OF DYING, 2023 (detail)
Copper leaf, copper paint, hot glue
on wood panel
25 x 40 cm

I AM INSIDE YOU ARE INSIDE ME, 2023
Alubond panel, cobber paint, aluminum profiles, bolts
150 x 300 x 300 cm (3 works)

CHEMISTRY IN THE FLOW OF DYING, 2023
Copper leaf, copper paint on wood panel
30 x 30 cm

CHEMISTRY IN THE FLOW OF DYING, 2023
Copper leaf, copper paint on wood panel
20 x 20 cm

CHEMISTRY IN THE FLOW OF DYING, 2023
Copper leaf, copper paint on wood panel
20 x 20 cm

CHEMISTRY IN THE FLOW OF DYING, 2023
Copper leaf, copper paint on wood panel
20 x 20 cm

I AM INSIDE YOU ARE INSIDE ME, 2023
Alubond panel, cobber paint, aluminum profiles, bolts
150 x 300 x 300 cm (3 works)

CHEMISTRY IN THE FLOW OF DYING, 2023
Copper leaf, copper paint on wood panel
40 x 40 cm

CHEMISTRY IN THE FLOW OF DYING, 2023
Copper leaf, copper paint on wood panel
30 x 30 cm

I AM INSIDE YOU ARE INSIDE ME, 2023
Alubond panel, cobber paint, aluminum profiles, bolts
150 x 300 x 300 cm (3 works)

CHEMISTRY IN THE FLOW OF DYING, 2023
Copper leaf, copper paint on wood panel
45 x 45 cm

Installation view