[June 4th 2003]
Press release


AK Dolven The Meal
29 May - 29 June 2003
Private view: Thursday 29 May 6.00 – 8.30pm

Anthony Wilkinson Gallery
242 Cambridge Heath Road London E2 9DA
Tel: 020 8980 2662 Fax: 020 8980 0028
www.anthonywilkinsongallery.com

The Anthony Wilkinson Gallery presents the second solo show of the Norwegian artist AK Dolven. The show includes new paintings and video works. As in many of A K Dolven’s earlier works, the videos share a minimal aesthetic and absence of narrative which is also echoed in the simple white form of her paintings. Each piece is installed to manipulate the position of the viewer so we come to observe the work in a specific way; we look through a crack in the wall at The Meal, view from a distance last winter and search for the painting that covers one wall, almost lost and absorbed by the space of the room.

In the video last winter there is an image of an old man lying with a young girl watching over him. As in some of Dolven’s earlier works such as, it could happen to you, 2001 the relationship between the man and the woman is ambiguous - is it father and daughter or sexual, is she caring for him or waiting for something to happen? The whole image is structured around the vertical and horizontal, the woman standing, the man lying down, the horizontal motorway and fence and the vertical architecture in the background. There is also a confrontation between young and old, warm and cold (the warm skin inside and cold snow outside) and between urban and nature.

Similar ambiguities and contrasts are found in the other video work, The Meal. As secret observers through a small crack we view a group of people eating soup. On first sight it is a normal family meal, a mother feeding her child, who sits next to an elderly woman, however at one end of the table there are two men, one of whom feeds the other and the relationship of those around the table becomes ambiguous, they are eating together in a traditional family way but the behaviour amongst them is not certain. The intense cool white light is also at odds with the subject presented (family meal associated with warmth) - there is a very unnatural light for a very “natural” situation.  

Dolven uses white oil on  aluminium for the paintings, which have traces of abstract forms; she reduces their presence to a minimum, just as she reduces the narrative and movement in  the videos. Like the videos, they do not have a static presence as their appearance changes with the time of day and reflection of light.

AK Dolven has recently had solo shows at South London Gallery, London, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland and Kunsthalle Nurnberg, Germany.

For further information or photographs please contact 020 8980 2662 or press@anthonywilkinsongallery.compress@anthonywilkinsongallery.com
Gallery opening times: Thurs - Sat 11 - 6 pm, Sun 12 - 6pm or by appointment
Nearest tube: Bethnal Green (Central Line)

Next exhibition: Silke Schatz The Kleinfamilie 3 July - 17 August 2003