Benji Whalen: Claustropia, installationview

From pressrelease: MOGADISHNI CPH is proud to present the second solo exhibition in the gallery by American artist Benji Whalen who will be showing a wide spectrum of his artistic expressions. The works presented in the exhibition will be his well-known stuffed fabric arms embroidered with colourful tattoo imagery, polymer clay sculptures, watercolour and oil paintings plus a sculpture of stuffed fabric and clothing. Benji Whalen's work often fuses the feminine and the masculine. In his art he points to a so called female tradition, but by fusing this with an aggressive imagery it forms a clash in the viewers mind between the soft and the hard and therefore his works surprisingly infuse the traditional feminine craft of needlepoint with an attitude of bold machismo. The soft sculptures of arms also pose an identity question to the viewer about its absent owner and one can invent a suitable identity for this hidden character. The new clay and fabric sculptures are absurd piles of human beings in fights with body parts sticking out. We both crave and fear the company of others, as the exhibition title CLAUSTROTOPIA suggests. The entangled bodies in the sculptures are physically close to such a degree that it borders on claustrophobia and causes aggression, and the notion of togetherness and peaceful coexistence therefore becomes a utopia. As always in Whalen's work, optimism and pessimism, faith and dejection, adoration and disgust, and most importantly humour and sadness are always simultaneously present. Later this year Benji Whalen will participate in a group exhibition called "Pricked: extreme embroidery" at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York.

19. oktober - 17. november 2007

Bredgade 23B, 1. 1260 København K

web site:www.mogadishni.com

Onsdag-fredag 12-17, lørdag 12-15