ART | Gardar Einarsson's First Solo Exhibition at Rat Hole Gallery
ART | A World-Renowned Artist Who Masters Diverse Forms of Expression
Gardar Einarsson Exhibition: "I Am The Only Free Man On This Train"
An exhibition of new works by Gardar Einarsson, an artist based in Tokyo and New York, titled "I Am The Only Free Man On This Train," will be held at Rat Hole Gallery in Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo, from Friday, August 2nd to Sunday, October 6th. The exhibition will feature new paintings, silkscreen prints, and sculptures.
Text by YANAKA Tomomi
Unveiling the Complex Relationship Between Power and Resistance
Born in Norway in 1976, Gardar Einarsson is a rising artist who employs a diverse range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, collage, photography, and installation. He incorporates symbols and signs from broad fields such as politics, pop culture, and subculture into his work. By extremely enlarging them, isolating parts, or using them subtly, he deconstructs them, stripping them of their original meaning and rendering them as hollow, disembodied forms.
The exhibition, whose title is a quote from a line spoken by an anarchist played by Klaus Kinski in the film "Doctor Zhivago" (1965), features iron sculptures by Einarsson that evoke the pull-up bars found in solitary confinement cells in American prisons, as well as silkscreen prints with postage stamp motifs. The works strongly suggest an awareness of the mythology and history of outlaw figures, and also hint at the struggle between "power and resistance" within the managed society that has become prominent in America since 9/11.
In addition, new works from his "Fluorescent Pink" series, where fluorescent pink acrylic paint covers the canvas and embeds questions about power structures, will be presented, as with his previous works. Furthermore, a monograph featuring the "Fluorescent Pink" and "Stainless Steel (Fine)" painting series will be published to coincide with this exhibition.
Gardar Einarsson has recently garnered attention for his solo exhibition at the Bergen Kunsthall, one of the largest art museums in Scandinavia, and for exhibitions touring Northern Europe. The complex relationship between "power and resistance" that emerges from his diverse body of work is compelling.
Gardar Einarsson Exhibition
"I Am The Only Free Man On This Train"
Dates: Friday, August 2nd - Sunday, October 6th (Closed Mondays)
Hours: 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Venue: Rat Hole Gallery
5-5-3 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, B1
Tel. 03-6419-3581