Tony Oursler

With two solo exhibitions concurrently in Copenhagen, at Gl Strand and Galleri Faurschou, there is an amazing opportunity to experience a wide selection of works by the American video-, film-, light- and sound installation artist Tony Oursler.

The opening is at Galleri Faurschou on Friday March 17th from 4 - 5pm, followed by the opening at Gl Strand from 5 - 7pm.

At 7 pm an outdoor projection especially created for the exhibition at Gl Strand, will be revealed on the facade.

The Tony Oursler exhibition at Gl Strand, previously on show at Jeu de Paume in Paris and at Helsinki City Art Museum, incorporates works from the past three decades. (www.glstrand.dk)

The exhibition at Galleri Faurschou features several brand new video-sculptures, which show how Tony Oursler breaks new ground with these technically advanced works. In these new sculptures, incorporating video projections on fiberglass sculptures, Oursler has edited a number of film clips into one projection. The impressive result is several figures and voices talking concurrently in one projection.

Resembling a living collage, the eyes and mouths are cut out individually and put together into absurd, funny and quite disturbing human mutants without noses, foreheads, neck - or any other body parts for that matter.

These "talking heads", with their blinking eyes, long eyelashes, soft lips and white teeth, talk incessantly. In rhythmic, repetitive and fragmented sentences, they demand the attention of the viewer: "I need attention here", "All you have to do is to take me home", "I don't know you, but I need you", "You think you are good - how do you sleep at night?" "Let's all get along - yeah right - out comes knives". It's funny - in a grotesque absurd way. Underlying the figures' weird behaviour and their funny, poetic and accusing statements, we notice a presence of existential loneliness, sexual frustration, vulnerability, hysteria, anger and insecurity. It's funny and touching as we recognise these emotions in ourselves.

In this fragmented and absurd speech, parallels may be drawn to a writer such as Samuel Beckett. Also Tony Oursler's creatures represent the human existence, in ways that are both comical and disheartening, touching and critical of society.

Tony Oursler has, through his works, always made a point out of showing how our everyday life - here in an American context - is influenced by mass media, technology, consumption, sex, drugs, religion, etc. His thoughts are on the condition of the human mentality in the postindustrial age.

Technically, Tony Oursler is one of the most challenging and forthcoming artists to explore the possibilities of video as media and has worked his way past the stereotypical setup of the media. Rather, Oursler uses his video images in installations, where they have been projected on to for example: clothes on the floor, flowers, tree trunks in a park, steam clouds, front of buildings and rag dolls.

This visually convincing and humorous way of attacking current and important social, psychological and existential subjects has made Tony Oursler one of the most important artists in the world today.

Pressetext

Tony Oursler
New Works