That Cool McCarthy/Bonde Combination (åbning fredag d. 13 januar 2017 kl. 17-22)

That Cool McCarthy/Bonde Combination

Kuratorer:

Morten K Jacobsen / Peter Bonde 

Udstillingstitlen er en Bonde-titel, et lille kip med kasketten til Kippenberger, en af mange interne og eksterne referencer i de to kunstneres virke. Bonde/McCarthy er ligesom Kippenberger: punk / antikultur /  antikunst.

McCarthy / Bonde er formet af 60’er-70’er-avantgarden, der igen er formet af DADA. Dadaisten Tristan Tsara proklamerede med vanlig selvhøjtidelighed at kunst er en privatsag. Det var ikke ment som en hyldest til den intime perception, men et forsvar for det kunstneriske super-ego, der producerer udelukkende for egne behov, uden tanke på opbyggelighed til folket: kan du følge med, så gør det, kan du ikke, surt. Det lyder nok i mere sarte ører arrogant, men er det ikke mere arrogant at tro, at det man har at sige, har betydning for andre end en selv?

McCarthy / Bonde fremstår som kunstnere med super-egoer, der med pålagt heroisk gestik, både bekræfter og underminerer samfundets idé om det kunstneriske geni, de er ikke oplyste shamaner i folkets tjeneste, men idiosynkratiske selvoptagede kunstnerlømler uden øje for det moralske imperativ. Deres super-egoer gør dem ikke til signaturkunstnere, de er mixedmediakunstnere, uden materialehierarki: ketchup, øl, performance, skumgummimadrasser, spejlfolie, oppustelige genstande, video, maleri, bronze og pizza er alle legitime, kontemplative elemeter.

McCarthy / Bonde er som sådan ikke naivt optaget af destruktion og anti-handlinger, de er bare heller ikke optaget af opbyggelighed og fællesgrund (sensus communis). I kunstrummet bliver det radikale udgangspunkt indoptaget, og igennem sin hyldest tranformeret til symbolik, gestik og til slut manér. Det smadrede klaver bliver et prydsobjekt man samles omkring og kontemplerer over. Derfor er jokekunst og kunstnerisk indifference mere hardcore og realistisk end den vrængende politiserende kunst.

Efter DADA har vi lært at et hul i jorden har samme vægt af betydning som den imposante obelisk. McCarthy / Bonde laver manifestløs kunst, uden formuleret formål eller nytteværdi, de forsvarer ikke deres værker, endsige kæmper for deres efterliv. Falder det, så falder det – noget vi andre dekadent kan nyde, som en pittoresk ruin kan nydes.

McCarthy / Bonde er ikonoklaster med geschwung.

That Cool McCarthy / Bonde Combination er ikke nihilisme, det er dionysisk ekstase, frigjort fra håndværkets disciplinering og mådehold, værkerne er et ja til den tankeløse gestus, den pludselige og gerne tåbelige indskydelse. That Cool McCarthy / Bonde Combination er et modspil til det moralske snobberi, den dårlige kunsts protektor.

Det var vist det!

Morten K Jacobsen, januar 2017

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Kom til Åbning på Udstillingsstedet Sydhavn Station fredag d. 13.01.17 fra 17-22 og oplev det dekadente sammenspil mellem amerikanske Paul McCarthy (1945) og danske Peter Bonde (1958).

Der vil blive serveret meget gode øl af Brygger Keld, til meget billige penge, og en lille saltet nød til at ægge tørsten.

Støttet af Statens Kunstfond

(for english)

That Cool McCarthy/Bonde Combination

Curators:

Morten K Jacobsen / Peter Bonde 

The title of the exhibition is a title from Bonde; a little tip of the cap to Kippenberger, one of many internal and external references in the two artists’ work. Bonde/McCarthy are like Kippenberger: punk/anti-culture/anti-art.

McCarthy/Bonde are formed by 60s and 70s avant-garde which again is formed by DADA. The Dadaist, Tristan Tsara, proclaimed with usual pompousness that art is a private matter. It was not meant as a tribute to the personal and intimate perception of art but rather as a defense for the artistic superego, which solely produces art to satisfy its own needs with no thought for edification of the people: can you keep up? Then do so; if you can’t? Tough luck! It sounds arrogant, but isn’t it more arrogant to believe that what you have to say, make sense for others than oneself?

McCarthy/Bonde are artists with superegos, who, with prescribed heroic gesticulation, both confirm and undermine society’s idea of the artistic genius. They are not informed shamans servicing the people but rather idiosyncratic self-centred artistic yobbos with no eye for the moral imperative. Their superegos don’t mean that they are signature artists; they are mixed media artists without hierarchy in their choice of materials: ketchup, beer, performance, foam rubber mattresses, mirror foil, inflatable objects, video, painting, bronze and pizza are all legitimate contemplative elements.

McCarthy/Bonde are not naively preoccupied by deconstruction and anti-acts as such, they just aren’t concerned with edification and our common ground (sensus communis). In arts, the radical starting-point is assimilated and transformed to symbolism, gesticulation, and finally affectated panache. The shattered piano becomes an ornament to be gathered around and to be contemplated about. Joke-art and artistic indifference are therefore more hard-core and real than sneering, politicized art.

After DADA we have learnt that a hole in the ground has the same value as the imposing obelisk. McCarthy/Bonde produce art with no manifesto, with no articulated goal or utility, they don’t defend their work of art, let alone fight for its afterlife; if it falls, it falls – something we decadently can enjoy as a picturesque ruin can be enjoyed.

McCarthy/Bonde are iconoclasts with geschwung.

That Cool McCarthy/Bonde Combination is not nihilism. It is Dionysiac ecstasy liberated from the discipline and moderation of craft. In their works we see a Yes! to thoughtless gesticulation, the sudden and preferably foolish impulse. That Cool McCarthy/Bonde Combination is a counter-act to moral snobbery, the protector of poor arts.

That’s about it!

Morten K Jacobsen, January 2017

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Join us at the opening at Udstillingsstedet Sydhavn Station, Friday 13 January 2017, from 5 p.m. to 22 p.m., to experience the decadent interplay between the American Paul McCarthy (1945) and Peter Bonde (1958).

A selection of quality beer brewed by Brygger Keld from Kelding Brew will be served at a cheap price, along with salted nuts to rouse the thirst.