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Martin Bigum
Structure Beneath Skin
January 10 - February 21, 2009
The exhibition ‚Structure Beneath Skin’ is the first soloshow by the Danish artist Martin Bigum in Germany. The show presents large-scale paintings, wall-papers by the artist, drawings, photographies and an outside installation; it invites to a poetic journey to grotesque and mythological visions.
Bigum is constantly searching for new inspiration throughout his environment - sometimes inspiration itself becomes the content of an artwork. Especially his photographies should be seen as evidences of moving through a fascinating world, leaving testimonies, catching the poetry of moments. ‚What I cannot write I must paint, and what I cannot paint I must write’, says the artist. The same can be said about what cannot be photographed, well, it can be painted, and what cannot be painted must be photographed.
Martin Bigum is primarily known for his comic-style paintings but is active in poetry and writing as well. From the age of 15 - 22 Martin Bigum was a cartoon-artist for the Danish version of the American satirical MAD magazine. After having quit this job to pursue his own art the artist did not want to be linked neither to cartoons nor MAD for many years but in his 42nd year of living, he becomes aware that a circle has been drawn.
Martin Bigum was born 1966 in Copenhagen, where he lives and works. Since his debut in 1990 Martin Bigum has been broadly shown in Scandinavian institutions and is collected by various Scandinavian museums, among these ARoS in Arhus, Arken Museum of Modern Art in Ishöj, Statens Museum for Kunst Copenhagen, Malmö Konstmuseum and Reykjavik Art Museum.
A catalogue is featuring all the works in the exhibition as well as poems, drawings and sketches. published by Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nürnberg