Artists

Maiken Bent

Press release

Join us for the opening of ‘Hydraulic Gear and Love Joy Coupling’ in the gallery on Friday, October 3, from 5:00 - 8:00 PM. We are delighted to present Maiken Bent’s second solo exhibition at Wilson Saplana Gallery, titled Hydraulic Gear and Love Joy Coupling. As in much of her previous work, Maiken Bent playfully challenges artistic hierarchies, aesthetic conventions, and the contrast between maximalism and minimalist form language. With great energy and clear intention, Bent pushes the boundaries of sculpture, sending us on a tour de force of associations and imagery through a whirlwind of materials. We are guided through a variety of distinct worlds: the body-obsessed gym space, gritty warehouses, and the nostalgic Danish interior tradition featuring hand-stitched tanned leather and warm, rustic stoneware. Bent questions the well-established notion of "good taste," transforming everyday hardware-store items into works of high-cultural visual art. Bent treats the gallery space on Vesterbrogade, just across from Copenhagen Central Station, as both a stage to be viewed and a space to be physically entered. The large windows facing one of Copenhagen’s most iconic streets provide the perfect backdrop for the poetic tension of opposites she creates. The floor is covered in what is known as a “fitness floor,” which not only contributes a striking painterly surface but also creates a tactile, intimate experience for visitors - the rubber surface yields beneath every step. From the ceiling hang heavy, colorful chain slings, typically used in cranes and other heavy industries. In the center of the room, a large, bright blue workshop crane serves as the backbone of a major sculptural work. Within this gym/workshop framework, Bent continues to experiment with themes that have characterized her practice in recent years. Much of her time is spent scouring the internet, thrift stores, and hardware outlets for objects like boats and fishing gear, carabiners, iron chains, and frames of all shapes and sizes. To these industrial, utilitarian items, she adds a new layer of meaning. With meticulous care, she creates a kind of new "skin" by applying patchwork leather scraps sourced from the fashion industry—or by adding a touch of handmade ceramic. The exhibition title Hydraulic Gear and Love Joy Coupling is itself a found object from the internet. While it holds clear functional meaning for a specific group of people, when placed outside its original context, it becomes poetic—free to evoke thoughts and images in entirely new directions. The exhibition invites us into a space of paradoxes, hinting at multiple layers of interpretation, especially in relation to the stereotypically "gendered" materials on display. A heavy, masculine crane dressed in soft, colorful, stitched leather conjures a girlish universe that feels oddly contradictory. Yet there’s also a kind of lusciousness in the overworked ‘80s Memphis Group-style blue when it’s paired with corny, patterned leather straps. The same applies to Bent’s recurring use of the boat fender, a humble, overlooked object, here adorned with leather and chains, suspended in an opaque structure. Suddenly, it begins to resemble a cuddly cat, an exclusive handbag, or an unreadable yet enticing object from a secret club.