Krista Rosenkilde
Formation Gallery
08 Mar 2024 – 20 Apr 2024
Opening and 8. March celebration 15-20
Formation Gallery is happy to present its first solo show by Krista Rosenkilde titled Forbidden Fruit - a double-sided archetypical firework that oscillates between the forbidden and the seductive - the sweet and the bitter.
In a vigorous and wild growing universe, a bite is taken of the forbidden fruit. The apple in the Garden of Eden is no longer intact - the curse has occurred, Eva is the sinner and we are all damned. Or are we? With Eva’s bite of the apple from the Tree of Knowledge, the insight has appeared - innocence is lost but knowledge is won. In Krista Rosenkilde’s version of the Fall Eva is a power-woman, that not simply tames the wildness but rides on it and celebrates her gain of knowledge - without any shame. The woman is not lost and the imperfect, but insightful human is in her story the only way forward.
Rosenkilde’s aesthetic universe gathers wreckage from our subconscious mind - here we meet characters that we know from dreams, folktales, the bible, and other fundamental stories of the human and our emotional life. These archetypes are placed as protagonists in a scenography of ornamentation, vegetation, coils, and carnivorous plants, whereby the borders between abstraction and figuration are erased.
A continuous symbol peeping out in several of the works is the strawberry. As the irresistible berry it is, it directs our attention to the exhibition title Forbidden Fruit and reminds us why it is so important to be tempted, to eat the fruit, to cross the line, and to evolve by daring to take a bite. The conflicting inner fight between lust for both lightness and darkness, that we know from any folktale. In Rosenkilde’s works the fight is just as much to navigate in, or surrender to, the forbidden and dark is just as it is the “happiness” you can blinded by when colors, deliciousness, and softness allures (maybe that is why Rosenkilde’s protagonists look a bit hypnotized when you look them deep in their wide-open eyes). Snap out of it! Or get devoured by the carnivorous plant, covered by the long sprouts, or burned by the devil’s crisp warming fire! The temptation is tangible - ambiguous - and maybe not exclusively dangerous…
Rosenkilde’s practice is no stranger to hyper-decoration and details, geometric forms and figures are her force. The works manifest themselves on the canvas through a special technique the artist herself has developed. A technique that covers the works in a tactile character due to the mortar-mixed paint with a granular structural surface. An additional distinctive feature of her works is sculptural frames that are made by the artist - a finish of the work that, with their bays, flames, or flowers, underlines the sculptural play and balance between the excessive vulgar, the autonomous, and the unrestrained intense.
With Forbidden Fruit, Krista Rosenkilde places some of history’s grand stories in a refreshing, playful, and ripe context where there, under the seemingly innocent symbolic universe, lurks something more and bigger - something being both disturbing, tempting, and timeless. The story of archetypes is being juggled, and luckily it falls to our advantage. With a feminist imaginative story, Rosenkilde liberates us from conventions and norms to make room for new frameworks of understanding and symbiosis - and that is worth celebrating!
Krista Rosenkilde (b. 1982) has a Master in Fine Art from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen 2003-2009. Since her graduation from the academy Krista Rosenkilde has had solo shows at places such as Traneudstillingen, Vendsyssel Kunstmuseum, Politikens Hus, and Kunsthal Korsør as well as several Danish and international galleries. She has also participated in a line of group shows at Kastrupgaard-samlingen, Holsterbro Kunstmuseum, Heerup Museum Vejle Kunstmuseum, Gammelgaard, Janusbygningen og Kunsthal Nord. Her works have been acquired by Statens Kunstfond, Københavns Billedkunstudvalg, and Politikens Hus. Rosenkilde’s works are to be found in several public collections and she has recently made a large commission piece on the walls of the Danish Western High Court.
8. March celebration of International Women’s Day
Program at Formation Gallery:
15-16: Panel debate: Women, battle, and art: Eva Præstiin & Elisa Kragerup (directors Betty Nansen Teatret), Krista Rosenkilde (artist), Anne Riber (gallerist) moderated by feminist debater, author and political communicator Nanna Kalinka Bjerke.
16.30-17: Women Choir concert with Harmonize
17-20: Opening of the two exhibitions: Krista Rosenkilde: Forbidden Fruit and group show Please be Reckless (Johanne Helga Heiberg (DK), Anne Aagaard Jensen (DK), Anne Torpe (DK), Isabella Vella (CAN))
8. March-programme is suported by Vesterbro Lokaludvalg
