Humlebæk, 24 October 2018 Cecily Brown Where, When, How Often and with Whom 8 November 2018 - 10 March 2019

Cecily Brown. Couple, 2004. Private Collection © Cecily Brown. Photo: Robert McKeever.

PRESS OPENING WEDNESDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2018 AT 10:00 AM OF THE EXHIBITION CECILY BROWN – WHERE, WHEN, HOW OFTEN AND WITH WHOM

The director of Louisiana , Poul Erik Tøjner, will welcome the press, after which the curator of the exhibition, Anders Kold, will introduce the exhibition. At 12 noon Louisiana invites the press to lunch in the Louisiana Café. NB! Please register for the press opening/press lunch by e-mail at [email protected].

Cecily Brown Where, When, How Often and with Whom 8 November 2018 - 10 March 2019

Cecily Brown (b. 1969) is a British artist, but has lived in New York for the past 20 years. Ever since the beginning, painting and drawing have been her main artistic activities. Louisiana’s exhibition shows works from 1997 until the present and is her first major European museum presentation for many years. The title of the exhibition quotes the more than 10-metre-long triptych from 2017, Where, When, How Often and with Whom, which is being shown in public for the first time. The title suggests a ‘plot’ indicating a place, a time and a relationship among human beings. But Brown’s works neither ask questions nor offer easy answers. The triptych in question comes at the end of the exhibition and is characteristic of what her pictures aim at. In an interview for Louisiana Magasin the artist has explained how a stone found on the beach at Louisiana has coloured the work, while press photos from ongoing global conflicts have provided material for it.

Brown works with many current issues, including the breakdown of the traditional gender roles, the politicizing of everyday life and the restless erotic energy of the times. She builds up tableaux with equal proportions of irony, heroism and elements from pornography. Despite the light touch, the artist often draws inspiration for her subjects from human conflicts. In a comment the artist says of the exhibition’s earliest work, Untitled (1997): "Good and evil can exist in the same place at the same time, for example bunnies being gang-raped in the most beautiful bucolic landscape on a day with scudding clouds and sunshine."

Although her works are partly rooted in the long-standing traditions of painting, and in particular in the tradition of modernism from Manet onwards, the contemporary impacts perceptibly on the works. The works are created in the intersection between figuration and abstraction. The old masters – that is, the ones from before modernity – are in play in Brown’s works as in few other contemporary artists. Especially in her drawings, she draws on the works of other artists as models for studying and practicing compositions and subjects. In the titles there is usually a nod to them – Bruegel, Hogarth, Géricault, Degas, and Manet. We do not find the relation directly present in relation to the modern masters who also inspire her – for example, , Francis Bacon, , and .

One of the insights that the study of older art gives her is the belief in the body as a bearer of meaning. The body is not only a motif, it is also bodily sensation, a direct path into the works for the viewer. The bodies are rarely shown with facial features; nevertheless there are almost always eyes looking out, further activating the relation between work and viewer.

The exhibition The exhibition offers an overview of Brown’s production over 25 years. The first room introduces a retro- spective view of the subjects and painterly strategies through 20 monotypes, all made in 2018. Here the artist – in the medium that comes closest to painting – gives her thoughts free rein to course back and forth over the years that have passed. A good 35 paintings of all sizes, 80 drawings and monotypes, as well as a selection of source-images from her studio archives, are presented in the museum’s classic West Wing. The exhibition is a natural continuation of Louisiana’s series of presentations of the contemporary painters including Peter Doig, Daniel Richter and Tal R.

Catalogue and Louisiana Magasin No. 49 Louisiana is publishing a richly illustrated English-language catalogue with contributions by the art critic Terry R. Myers, the Pulitzer prizewinner Hilton Als, the curator of the exhibition Anders Kold, and Louisiana editor Lærke Rydal Jørgensen. As a prelude to the exhibition, Louisiana Magasin No. 49 (in Danish only) features an interview with Cecily Brown and Anders Kold, while Louisiana Channel has produced a lengthy interview with Cecily Brown from her studio in New York.

Louisiana Lectures Free entrance for museum guests.

Wednesday 28 November 2018 at 19:30 Curator Anders Kold about the Cecily Brown exhibition.

Wednesday 23 January 2019 at 19:30 The Danish author Ursula Andkjær Olsen on the work of Cecily Brown.

Wednesday 6. February 2019 at 19:30 The British art historian Jasper Sharp in conversation with curator Anders Kold about historical and contemporary matters in the work of Cecily Brown.

Further information about the exhibition Cecily Brown – Where, When, How Often and with Whom is available from curator, Anders Kold, or Head of Press Susanne Hartz. A login for press photos can be ordered by email from [email protected] or M +45 2858 5052.

Museum opening hours: Tuesday - Friday 11:00-22:00. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays 11:00-18:00. Mondays closed. Louisiana website: www.louisiana.dk. Louisiana Channel: http://channel.louisiana.dk/.

Yours sincerely Susanne Hartz Head of Press

Republic of Fritz Hansen and Nørgaard på Strøget. Louisiana’s Main Corporate Partners. UBS supports Louisiana’s exhibition programme. Realdania supports Louisiana’s architectural exhibitions. C.L. Davids Fond og Samling supports among other events Louisiana Literature, Louisiana Live and Louisiana on Paper.