Tommy Høvik
ITW

 
 

Date: 16.08.2013 — 20.09.2013
Beginning: 19:00

 

Norwegian artist Tommy Høvik (1979) is already known in the Czech art environment for several projects. For the first time, when he was chosen by curators of Startpoint, international competition in 2011, at that time a recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Art in Oslo won with his installation From Here We Go Sublime. In addition to couple of group exhibitions held in Czech ambient, he presented his work in a more comprehensive way within his solo exhibition at the Gallery of Fine Arts in Cheb (GAVU) and now after almost a year, again returned to Prague where he is exhibiting the new work in etc. gallery, in the smallest space ever which he is confronted.

Tommy creates objects, often works with ready mades, made of various complements that he unexpectedly combines with other objects. Hand in hand with his objects, there are collages, where he as well as in objects likes to write words and sentences. Poetics inscriptions in combination with visuality photos or collages of found objects affects the viewer’s imagination and develops the meaning in the other dimensions – and with the poetry of northern, forest, full of memories, melancholy, with images of sea and sky. There is always something hidden, concealed, as in layered collages, where we see only the top sheet, but certainly we know that dozens of other images, other stories are beneath.

Their own history keep the the wooden boards or ready mades like hand-carved wooden items, clothing, stuffed animals. Tommy adds to their own already written story  his own: lately, there are some topics related to the recent events in Norway that Tommy implies into his work. And with knowing this, a little link in a text accompanying the work or just the from the first sight a surrealistic connection of ready mades and we read his work in new ways, uncover his personal testimony and attitude to the situation. Ambivalent topics leaves in the works of high tension and is well defined in advance. Northern Fjords and the beauty of the nature is disturbed by a quiet scream Revolt, somewhat decadent jacket permeate snakes filling at the same time supporting function, cute baby tricycle decorated with a camouflage, Viking ship’s sail symbolizing the office like sleekness of a smiling, polite and quiet neighborhood boy. It is a game of intuition and imagination, it is an open story that Tommy offers, and the viewer is to create his own story if he is enough intuitive and imaginative.

Markéta Vinglerová