THOMAS BANG NEW AND EARLY WORK / 1969-1980 TOWARD OTHER POSSIBLE CONDITIONS
It is a special pleasure for us to be able to show a solo exhibition with the Danish artist Thomas Bang. He recently turned 80 and the exhibition features a number of significant historical works from 1969 to 1980 in one of the gallery spaces and new works from 2018 in the other. At the age of 11 Thomas Bang moved with his family from Denmark to the United States. He was educated at the Cleveland Institute of Art 1958-61, Yale University 1961-62 and the University of Southern California in 1962-64. Later, he moved to New York, where he became a professor at the University of Rochester, New York, 1970-91. In the 80's he commuted between Denmark and the USA and eventually moved to Denmark in 1991. Bang was actively exhibiting in the USA since the mid-sixties with early solo shows at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1965 and at Rice University, 1969 and in general exhibiting throughout the USA up through the 80 s. In 1969 he was invited to participate in the legendary exhibition "When Attitudes Become Form", Bern / London / Krefeld. During the years 1969-71 Bang also participated in several museum exhibitions focusing on the new sculpture within the area of Post-Minimalism, such as "Soft Art", "Between Object and Environment", "New Materials" and "TWENTY-SIX BY TWENTY-SIX". Furthermore, he partook in Biennials at the Whitney Museum of Art and group exhibitions at MoMa PS 1 as well as exhibitions at numerous other museums. Bang also had a number of significant solo exhibitions in galleries in New York, especially at O.K. Harris. In the early years, the artist worked with materials such as plaster, hydrostone, carpet-felt, foam rubber, carpeting, wire, sackcloth, and rubber hose. The works often consisted of numerous components distributed across the floor. Throughout his career Bang has dealt with a broad range of manifestations of states of fragility and vulnerability. Interventions in terms of various forms of damage and destruction of components took place followed by a restructuring process and this was one of several procedures Bang employed eliciting its own internal narrative. He has also at various points in his career occasionally focused on generating components that carry vague references to our world of common objects, specifically from utilitarian and body-oriented contexts. Since Bang s re-established contact with Denmark in the 80 s and his final return to the country in 1991, he has participated in countless group exhibitions at museums and art galleries in Europe, such as the Hamburg Kunstverein und Kunsthaus '84, the Wilhelm-Lehmbruch Museum '85, the Nordic Art Center, Helsinki '88, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 96 and Kunsthalle zu Kiel 2005. In 1995 and 96 he showed early works at a solo exhibition at Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde. Nikolaj Kunsthal and the museums in Esbjerg and Herning showed a retrospective exhibition. At Brandts Kunsthal Bang had a solo show of new sculptures and installations, and he participated in several group exhibitions in the 90 s and in the 2000 s at SMK, the National Gallery of Art. Solo exhibitions took place at Asbæk and Stalke galleries in the 80 s and 90 s and at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in 2009. Of special significance was a reconstruction in 2013 at Fondazione Prada, Venice, of "When Attitudes Become Form, the group show from 1969. A visit to Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen in 2008 becomes central for Thomas Bang s later artistic practice. By chance he encounters an Egyptian funeral portrait from the Roman period (1st - 3rd century AD). The naturalistic style of the mummy portraits from this period deviates radically from the pictorial imagery of Egypt at that time. This extreme intervention in the Egyptian burial context as well as the often severely damaged and almost disintegrated paintings relates directly to Bang's long-standing focus on breakdown and subsequent reconstruction of image, object and meaning. This experience led to a renewed interest in a range of pictorial issues, which is evident in Bang s new wall works, where processes of accumulation, modification, erosion and rebuilding abound. Recently, Bang has been active in solo presentations at FIAC Officielle, Paris 2015 and Artissima, Torino 2016 together with KANT Gallery, Copenhagen, where Bang also exhibited separately in 2016. In addition, the extensive retrospective exhibition in 2016-17 at Esbjerg Museum of Art should be mentioned and a distinctive exhibition in spring 2018 at FOLD Gallery, London.
TB_T1801 ERASE, 2018 Plywood, leather, charcoal pencil, acrylic paint. 106,5 x 90 x 66 cm. Photo credit: Dorte Krogh
TB_T1802 TOWARD OTHER POSSIBLE CONDITIONS No. 2, 2018 Plywood, textiles, leather, gesso, acrylic paint 102 x 330 x 65 cm. Diptych. Photo credit: Noah da Costa & FOLD Gallery
TB_T1803 SIGN (BREAKDOWN PAST, PRESENT), 2018 Plywood, canvas, string, carpet felt, oven polish, acrylic paint 174 x 70 x 44 cm. Photo credit: Dorte Krogh
TB_T1804 SIGN (FLYING YELLOW FLAGS FOR ELENA AND NICHOLAE), 2018 Plywood, textiles, leather, gesso, acrylic paint 165 x 204 x 94 cm. Diptych. Photo credit: Noah da Costa & FOLD Gallery
TB_T1805 SIGNS OF THE TIMES, 2018 Plywood, leather, charcoal pencil, acrylic. 106,5 x 90 x 66 cm. Photo credit: Dorte Krogh
TB_T8101 UNTITLED No.1, 1981 Graphite powder on paper 70 x 120 cm. (Framed) Photo credit: Dorte Krogh
TB_T8101 UNTITLED No.2, 1981 Graphite powder on paper 70 x 120 cm. (Framed) Photo credit: Dorte Krogh
TB_I6902 LEAN No.1, 1969 Wood, carpet strips & padding, burlap, fabric, string, nails. 159 x 122 x 10 cm Photo credit: Dorte Krogh
TB_I68104 INSTRUMENT No.1, 1981 Plywood, cotton belting, wax, wire 68 x 21 x 8 cm. Photo credit: Dorte Krogh
TB_S7501 FS2, 1975 Hydrocal, industrial belting 18 x 48,5 cm. Ø
TB_S7502 EV2, 1975 Hydrocal, plasticene 18 x 56 x 23 cm
TB_S7503 UNTITLED No.1, 1975 Hydrocal 14 x 30 cm Ø
TB_I6901 TWO STRAP HANG, 1969 Wood, carpet strips+ padding, burlap, string 288 x 247 x 29 cm. Photo credit: Dorte Krogh
TB_T8102 SMALL INSTRUMENT No.1, 1981 Plywood, cotton belting, wax, wire 68 x 21 x 8 cm. Photo credit: Dorte Krogh
TB_I8101 SHELF No.3, 1981 Plywood, cotton belting, wax, wire 18 x 213 x 7,5 cm Photo credit: Dorte Krogh
SOLO - & 2 / 3 PERSON EXHIBITIONS: 2016 Thomas Bang States of Discontinuity, KANT Gallery, Copenhagen Thomas Bang Artissima Art Fair, Torino. KANT Gallery, Copenhagen BANG Retrospective, Esbjerg Art Museum, Esbjerg 2015 Thomas Bang, Fiac Officielle, Paris. KANT Gallery, Copenhagen 2012 Condition report regarding immediately unidentifiable circumstances (with Kristofer Hultenberg) Møstings Hus, Copenhagen (catalog) Other conditions (with Kristofer Hultenberg), HENNINGSEN Gallery, Copenhagen Slowly towards the outskirts of the past (s. m. Cronhammar og Ingemann) The Museum at Sønderborg Castle (catalog) 2009 States of Locations, Retrospective & new work. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, København (catalog) 2007-08 Now, That the Time Has Come (s. m. Cronhammar og Ingemann), Kunstindustrimuseet (catalog) 2003 Report concerning fragile conditions, Stalke Galleri, København (catalog) 2003 Spejlingen, Instrumentet, Gyngen og Genkomsten (s. m. Ingvar Cronhammar og Poul Ingemann) Sophienholm, Lyngby (catalog) 2002 Seven Attempts to Create an Adequate View, Museum of Art, Tønder (catalog) 2001 Habitation (with Ingvar Cronhammar og Poul Ingemann), Kunsthal-len Brænderigården, Viborg (catalog) 1996 New Works, Galerie Asbæk, Copenhagen Future-Trophies, D.C.A. Gallery, New York City (catalog) 1995 Thomas Bang. A Selection of Early Work 1968-1974, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde (catalog) 1995 Thomas Bang - Retrospective, Nikolaj Contemporary Art Centre, Copenhagen (catalog) Esbjerg Art Museum, Esbjerg; HEART Herning Museum of Art, Herning (catalog) 1995 Future Trophies as well as other predictions and accompanying appa-ratus, Brandts Art Center, Odense (catalog) 1992 Maison du Danemark, Paris (catalog) Randers Art Museum, Randers Thomas Bang, New Works, Galerie Patricia Asbæk, Copenhagen 1991 Thomas Bang, New Wall Works, Ruth Siegel Gallery, New York City 1990 Stalke Galleri, Copenhagen 1989 Stalke Galleri, Copenhagen (catalog) 1988 Ruth Siegel Gallery, New York City 1986 Galerie Asbæk, Copenhagen 1985 Thomas Bang Skulpturen und Zeichnungen, Galerie Brigitte March, Stuttgart 1984 New York Experimental Glass Workshop, New York City ARoS Århus Museum of Art, Århus Esbjerg Art Museum, Esbjerg Galerie Asbæk, Copenhagen 1983 Thomas Bang, Neue Arbeiten, Galerie Nemo, Eckernförde, Germany (catalog) Thomas Bang, Harm Bouckaert Gallery, New York City 1982 Thomas Bang, Harm Bouckaert Gallery, New York City 1981 Thomas Bang, Galerie Nemo, Eckernförde, Germany Bergen Contemporary Art Center, Bergen, Norway 1979 O.K. Harris Gallery, New York City 1978 O.K. Harris Gallery, New York City 1974 O.K. Harris Gallery, New York City 1972 O.K. Harris Gallery, New York City 1971 O.K. Harris Gallery, New York City 1970 O.K. Harris Gallery, New York City 1968 Thomas Bang, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas 1965 Thomas Bang, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California 1964 Thomas Bang, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (La Jolla), California