Artists

Jóhan Martin Christiansen

Press release

As testimonies to – or perhaps memories of – people, places, things, feelings, and touches, Jóhan Martin Christiansen presents a series of plaster reliefs in his first solo exhibition in Alice Folker Gallery. Being quite literal imprints – casts of found cardboard boxes – the reliefs seem to signify something that once was, but no longer is. As afterimages or traces of the past, they carry the outlines of a footprint, a pattern, a logo, or a colour faded in the process of transference from the original cardboard box to the plaster cast.

Yet, Christiansen’s works are not simply mimicking minimalist investigations of temporality, form and colour. Although at times, they may seem related to artists such as Robert Ryman, whose works attain an almost profoundly physical degree by adhering to a white palette. Christiansen’s casts are something more. They are intimate portrayals of a family member, who left a dent, a mark or a footprint on a piece of cardboard. They are testimonies to queer culture, where the outline of a shoe that was once spray painted remains on a piece of cardboard. They are afterimages of lives and lived experiences.