Rising artists Denmark
Lifestyle / Society

7 up-and-coming Danish artists to have on your radar

By Lola Froebe

Image: Sif Itona Westerberg, Immemorial, AROS. Courtesy The Artist and Gether Contemporary. Photo David Stjernholm.

Yes, you know Tal R and Jesper Just, but these are the new creatives on the block to spark inspiration. These are the names to take note of

A work of art in your home can be a real joy-bringer. Every time you walk past a piece, it can give you a little daily lift. In fact, objects of beauty stimulate the very same part of the brain as when you fall in love with someone, according to a scientific study by the University College London. So whether it's a portrait, an abstract, or a sculpture, a powerful piece can really have a positive impact on your mood and feeling.

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So surely there's no better reason for discovering the ever-emerging art scene in Denmark? Alongside well-known (and loved) showstoppers such as Ólafur Elíasson, Elmgreen & Dragset and Mamma Andersson, Danish art is experimental at its very best. Invigorating, daring and often unexpected. If you're looking to discover a new rising star artist, here's 7 of the most need-to-know talents to keep your eye on.

1

Jeannette Ehlers

In recent years, Jeannette Ehlers has taken on a key role in the Danish art world by raising awareness of Denmark’s past as a colonial power. Her largest solo exhibition up to date, “Archives in the Tongue: A Litany of Freedoms” at Copenhagen's Kunsthal Charlottenborg earlier this year, was an impressive mix of her cinematic practice, interlaced with film, sculpture, and performance art – all culminating in a poetic, spiritual experience. Drawing attention to the history, perception, and alienation of black identity within a Western arena, Ehlers renders a radically new perspective on how our society is structured and how this framework could be different. "I believe that art can open up new spaces in people no matter who you are," she says.

2

Ida Sønder Thorhauge

The paintings of Ida Sønder Thorhauge evoke a dream-like realm where historical and mythical beings mirror profound clichés of our collective consciousness. Linking classical and contemporary literature and fairy tales with narratives of art history, Thorhauge investigates topics such as existentialism, transformation, and identity, all told through a feminist lens. After graduating from the Jutland Academy of Arts in 2016, the artist presented her first institutional solo show “Between Eternity and Time” at Overgaden in Copenhagen in 2021, drawing on a rich panoply of pictorial language. Painting huge figures, including horses, butterflies, and skulls, in the midst of hazy landscapes on enormous canvases, Thorhauge’s work threatens to envelope the viewer and incase them in the otherworldly universe forever. Not a bad place to be though, admittedly.

3

Sif Itona Westerberg

Heroism, hubris, beauty, love, justice, and vengeance – as towering as these motives seem, Greek mythology focuses on the universal human experience which is why they are still so relevant today. Reclaiming these narrative traditions while twisting their paradigms upside down, Sif Itona Westerberg negotiates themes of collective human emotions, perceptions of global crises, and the depiction of women in myth. Working with bronze and aerated concrete – an inexpensive, mass-produced building material – the artist creates sculptures and three-dimensional objects that unveil how our existence is not isolated from everything else but intertwined, ever moving and repeating itself throughout history, again and again. Having just finished her first solo show “Yearn!” at Gether Contemporary in Copenhagen, the future is open for Westerberg.

4

Esben Weile Kjær

Operating between the lines of performance, installation, and sculpture, Esben Weile Kjær has been making noise for a little while. Having already gained solo exhibitions at Kunstforeningen GL STRAND, Copenhagen Contemporary, along with Center Pompidou in Paris, Museum Tinguely in Basel, and Berghain in Berlin, his work explores how our media-driven reality shapes our sense of self.

He's also worked closely with Copenhagen's other up-and-coming creatives, including DJ Courtesy, who he created the set design of a number of her concerts and the artwork for her single Night Journeys II. Merging pop art with party, Kjær’s work captures both the unease and pleasure cursing through so much of our present culture – the lure of technology, the consumption of bodies, the promise of freedom – while leaving the viewer to make their own conclusions.

5

Sofie Flinth

Fashion’s fascination with art is common knowledge. And in the same manner, the principles of contemporary fashion photography, such as staging and artificial light, are just as captivating when used in a more artistic context. Visual artist Sofie Flinth straddles both realms combining storytelling with the hyper-real, staged scenarios in amongst nature. Her depictions of the present and, most vitally, the future are full with possibility and wonder. Her works invite the reader to get right up close to each photograph and become part of the depicted scene. And the art world is taking notice too. Her intriguing images were part of this year’s annual Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition as well as the third edition of Fresh Eyes, a panel selecting 150 new artists in Europe to watch out for.

6

Carl Emil Jacobsen

The sculptures of Carl Emil Jacobsen can probably best be described as transformed and transformative. The Danish artist takes large stones, such as bricks, chalkstone, and marble and gives them a new form, turning them into crisp, lightweight objects. By pulverising his material to a fine powder and then layering this powder into abstract shapes, he demonstrates how these objects can be both ordinary and estranged. Existing in this “elastic borderland” – as he calls it – between nature and culture, his works evoke a magnetic effect on the viewer, one that makes it hard to look away.

7

Laura Guiseppi

Laura Guiseppi challenges not only the perceptions of our bodies in the light of nature and naturalness, but also addresses the modern urge to optimise, embellish, soften, and conceal parts of ourselves (and our bodies). Her recent solo show “Solastalgia” at Lagune Ouest in Copenhagen, included large transparent plastic retainers morphed into artificial butterflies – the epitome of kitsch and beauty – by the hands of the artist. Her delicate ceramics and trippy sculptures hold up a mirror to our viewing patterns while trying to deconstruct our ideals of beauty.