Daring Danes

Arrived at København yesterday afternoon.  Since I had time to visit only one gallery - Den Frie Udstillingsbygning - and photography was not allowed, I have no pictures of the exhibition there to share.  The curated group exhibition is titled Space Is The Place.  It taps into the relationship between science fiction and visual art.  Picture of Den Frie Udstillingsbygning:

Den Frie Udstillingsbygning's history has a revolutionary beginning.  Danish artists, too, have impressed me with their daring originality.  My favourite Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's creativity is, without a doubt, truly original.  Danish artist Henrik Olesen's honesty expressing what the public discussion has marginalized, effaced and misrepresented is passionate and daring.  Poster of his 2011 solo exhibition I saw at Basel's Museum für Gegenwartskunst:

Daring bright København colours against the unforgiving grey sky:

Quaytman's book spine

Just arrived at Duesseldorf today.  But let me just finish off my Basel chapter.

Although my days in Basel have mostly been filled with sights of architecture, I did manage to see some impressive art there.  Francis Alÿs' Fabiola at Schaulager's offsite location Haus zum Kirschgarten, Henrik Olesen's solo at Museum für Gegenwartskunst and R.H. Quaytman's Spine, Chapter 20 at Kunsthalle Basel were all very powerful shows.  I like Quaytman's show the most.

Quaytman's exhibition is a reinterpreted retrospective of her paintings since 2001. With her paintings hung in long lines, viewers read the coherently displayed paintings like words on a page of a book.  I love the way she manipulated and reinvented images in an abstract way.  The modified architectural space intensified the effect of the visual display.  It's a pity that I did not have enough time to meditate on the depth of her thoughts.

Quaytman at Kunsthalle Basel, 2011: