2017
duo-exhibition with Flemming Ove Bech

Asleep
Polyester mesh, inkjet pigment, full motion TV mount, acrylic. 90 x 64 x 24 in

Batch W267-2
Batch W350-1
Batch W267-1
Batch 11AVMSBHD-1
Batch ODM2T-1
Batch W350-2
Batch 11AVMSBHD-2
Thixotropic polyurethane glue, rubber car mat, aluminum. Various sizes

DELI gallery
new york city
22 sep – 8 oct, 2017

supported by:
The Danish Arts Foundation
L. F. Foghts fond

Deli Gallery is pleased to present Scion, an exhibition of new work by Johan Rosenmunthe and Flemming Ove Bech. Comprised of a series of collaborative sculptures and photographs, the exhibition is on view from September 22nd through October 8th, 2017.

Cultural signs and icons continuously shift and warp as a product of replication and digital circulation. This sampling results in mutations or distortions whose output may be an elevation, a degradation or a perversion of the original. But in this process, bits of information are carried over and preserved away from their original context. The works presented in this show are open and inexact experiments in sampling that share properties with the chemical lab. Just as scientists might remove a piece of DNA to a controlled setting in order to create replicas, the artists have created new works based on fragments of outdated and ancient forms, suggesting new or future cultural icons.

Rosenmunthe’s polyurethane plastic sculptures take their original forms from silhouetted architectural structures. By rendering the form flat and extruding it anew through plastic, Rosenmunthe presents a warped interpretation of the original, set against a rubber car mat. A tension arises in the mirroring that results between the two forms – one hand-stretched and unique, the other manufactured and mass-produced.

Ove Bech’s series of double exposure photographs combine modernist architecture and houndstooth fabric. Subsequent darkroom alterations position the seemingly similar images against one another, highlighting their differences. Ove Bech’s composite work More Precision combines two large-scale photograms made with a Wacom tablet, stylus, and construction materials.

For Scion, the artists’ first collaborative exhibition, Ove Bech and Rosenmunthe created a site-specific installation with fabric, inkjet pigment, and metal TV wall mounts. Seeking to bridge the material and technological forces in their opposing practices, the sculpture juts out from the wall and into the space. Like the exhibition’s title, the sculpture is a cultural offshoot which has been removed from its original environment and replanted in the gallery.