COPENHAGEN.- The artists at EXTRACT IV have all been selected against the background of their art projects presented at art academies in the USA, Switzerland and Denmark. Three of the exhibition’s artists have graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in the USA and one has graduated from the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Switzerland. From Denmark an artist duo from the Jutland Academy of Art in Aarhus participates as well as two artists respectively from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and the Funen Academy of Art in Odense.

The participating artists are: Selini Halvadaki (DK), Jens & Morten (DK), Sophia Narrett (USA), Amanda Nedham (CAN/USA), Kika Nicolela (BRA/B), RaMell Ross (USA) and Anna Samsøe (DK).

At the exhibition in GL STRAND each artist is assigned one space with which he or she can work openly and experimentally. They work in a wide range of media, modes of expression and thematic content, and the exhibition thus presents painting, sculpture, graphic art, installation, video, photography and performance.

Two themes unite the various contributions: an interest in human stories and the challenging of standard narratives. Join us for example on a journey to South Korea, where major changes in the landscape have affected the life-narrative of an island community. Or experience the American southern state of Alabama, where people young and old, buildings and nature appear for us in unexpected configurations.

EXTRACT is mounted in collaboration with the foundation Det Obelske Familiefond, which supports the exhibition, the solo exhibitions and the prize throughout a three-year commitment. Det Obelske Familiefond is demonstrating fantastic generosity towards and support for the young Danish and international art scene, of which we are very pleased and grateful to be a part at GL STRAND.

ARTISTS AT EXTRACT IV
Selini Halvadaki (DK) has graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. The video medium is a consistent feature of her artistic practice. In it she investigates how memory and reality shape each other, in particular on the basis of the ruin as a symbol of time and change. She often creates documentary narratives of ruins and places based on private and found photographic material and film clips. This way she links ‘big’ and ‘small’ history.

Jens & Morten (N/DK). Morten Kromann, one half of the duo Jens & Morten, has graduated from the Jutland Academy of Art with a work jointly created by himself and the artist Jens Ardal. The artist duo has worked together since 2012, often within a socio-aesthetic practice. In workshops, performances and art parades they have turned the focus on provincial areas in Denmark and in Norway. Some of their projects involve sculptural installations where the artistic process and human engagement act together in a variety of aesthetic idioms.

Sophia Narrett (USA) trained at the Rhode Island School of Design in the painting programme. Besides coloristic paintings Sophia Narrett also creates sophisticated embroideries. In a comprehensive process where Narrett ‘paints’ her pictures with coloured thread, she conjures up dreamlike scenes that draw inspiration as much from the motivic depths of art history as from the everyday social culture of the present.

Amanda Nedham (CAN/USA). The Canadian artist Amanda Nedham is a graduate of the painting programme of the Rhode Island School of Design. Graphic expression and sensual materiality are recurrent features of her works, resulting in paper works, collages and sculptures. Her themes revolve around death, ruins and the transitory, and her works can be seen as modern Vanitas assemblages.

Kika Nicolela (BRA/B). Brazilian-born Kika Nicolela has taken her master’s degree at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. She works in a broad spectrum of expression, especially within video, performance and photography. In her works she investigates subjects like identity, gender, social communities in processes of engagement, and how these are formed and achieve meaning through specific narratives.

RaMell Ross (USA) is a graduate of the photography programme of the Rhode Island School of Design. Ross is originally from Alabama, and the people and territories of the region are recurring motifs in his photographs. With his pictures he tries to challenge the usual cultural stereotypes associated with the American southern states and to create new, alternative narratives that take their cue from individual situations and characters.

Anna Samsøe (DK). Anna Samsøe, a graduate of the Funen Academy of Art, is preoccupied with the various acoustic effects of sound on the intellectual, physical and psychological development of human beings. In pseudo-documentary videos with inspiration from animated presentations of science, she investigates the relationships of human beings with sound in a poetic and challenging narrative idiom.