Dan Rees & Fredrik Værslev

STANDARD (OSLO) is pleased to present “Shelf Paintings (Pottery In October) (Decorations By Dan Rees)”, a collaboration between artists Dan Rees and Fredrik Værslev. Having studied together at Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, the continued conversation has resulted in a set of ten collaborative works that are linking the anecdotal with the analytical in regards to painting as product and process.

RED:
“I’m a much more confident person than when I started here, which comes with age” […] “I’m able to handle things which I wouldn’t back then, things that would have bothered me. If I wasn’t playing well I was devastated. Now I’m disappointed, but I know I’ll come back.”

– Ryan Giggs

GOLD:
“‘Shelf Paintings’ is a series of paintings executed with spray paint on plywood. The prototype was based on my mothers description of an ideal painting – a painting that would not interfere with whatever was placed in front of it, but rather function in the way that the perfect blouse brings out the tones of your skin or the colour of your eyes. The motives of these paintings are abstracted or faded colour formations similar to the backdrop of the “Good Morning America” TV studio, to that of tapestry, or the sky on a nice evening. Underneath the paintings a wooden shelf has been mounted with hinges. The shelf is sort of a platform for decorations of all kinds. The colour formations on the paintings are primarily based on wishes from those who will decorate them.”

– Fredrik Værslev

GREEN:
“And I’ll come running to tie your shoe

I’ll come running to tie your shoe

I’ll come running to tie your shoe

I’ll come running to tie your shoe.”

– Brian Eno, “I’ll Come Running” from “Another Green World” (1975)

WHITE:
Squash or smack / white on white / a ping-pong painting.

Dan Rees (b. 1982, Swansea, United Kingdom) lives and works in Berlin. Since graduating from Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main in 2008 Rees has had solo exhibitions with Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin, Galerie Andreas Huber, Vienna, as well a solo presentation at Art Basel 40 earlier this year with T293, Naples. Throughout the course of the exhibition Rees’ works can also be seen in his solo exhibition – “Junk On A Thing” – at Johan Berggren Gallery in Malmö.

Fredrik Værslev (b. 1979, Moss, Norway) lives and works in Drøbak, Norway, and Malmö, Sweden, where he will graduate from the Malmö Art Academy in 2010. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmö; Studio, Venice; Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt am Main; Basis, Frankfurt am Main, and Economy, Frankfurt am Main. Værslev is also serving as curator of the project space Landings, located outside of Oslo.

STANDARD