Bad Camouflage
Elina Brotherus (*1972, Helsinki) is internationally known for her self-portraits and the fact is that she herself may be seen in almost all of her photographic and video works.
These include series resembling diaries, photographed landscapes and situational mood-pictures. In the works presented at Bad Camouflage the Finnish artist appropriates various contemporary concepts of art and integrates them into her own unmistakeable aesthetic.
Elina Brotherus, Portrait Series (Gelbe Musik with Sunflowers), 2016
From the series The Baldessari Assignments
Pigment ink print on barytha paper from digital original mounted on aluminium and framed
80 x 110 cm, Edition of 3
70 x 96 cm, Edition of 3
Elina Brotherus, Reversals, 2016
From the series The Baldessari Assignments
Pigment ink print on barytha paper from digital original mounted on aluminium and framed
90 x 112 cm
Edition of 6
After John Baldessari, Reversals, from List of Art Ideas for 1st Class of CalArts, Post Studio (If They Have No Ideas of Their Own from which to Make a Piece), 1970
€ 7,000 Excluding taxes and additional fees Inquire →A masterly lightness and an absurd humour give rise to surprising pictorial inventions with which Brotherus engages in a fresh exploration of the possibilities offered by photography.
Elina Brotherus, Disobedience, 2018
From the series Meaningless Work
Pigment ink print on barytha paper from digital original mounted on aluminium and framed
90 x 67 cm
Edition of 6
After VALIE EXPORT, Stand up. Sit down., 1989.
In collaboration with VALIE EXPORT
Elina Brotherus examines and updates concepts from earlier generations; among others, she uses Event Scores of the international Fluxus movement from the 1960s and 1970s. Or she draws inspiration from John Baldessari’s idiosyncratic ideas of art, he came up with for his students: “Disguise yourself as another object – a tree maybe. Or becoming a tree. A big bird?”
Elina Brotherus, For Sylvia Plath, 2016
From the series The Baldessari Assignments
Pigment ink print on barytha paper from digital original mounted on aluminium and framed
70 x 87 cm
Edition of 6
After John Baldessari, For Sylvia Plath, from The Way We Do Art Now and Other Sacred Tales, 1973
“A homage to the American author. A scene is reenacted from her novel in which she attempts to hide from the world by hiding beneath a mattress. (—-)”
Elina Brotherus, Black Object, White Chair, 2016
From the series Meaningless Work
Pigment ink print on barytha paper from digital original mounted on aluminium and framed
80 x 53 cm
Edition of 6
After George Brecht, Three arrangements - black object - white chair, 1962
€ 5,000 Excluding taxes and additional fees Inquire →Elina Brotherus, Bad Camouflage, 2016
From the series Meaningless Work
Pigment ink print on barytha paper from digital original mounted on aluminium and framed
100 x 66 cm
Edition of 6
Elina Brotherus, Why Not, 2018
From the series Meaningless Work
Pigment ink print on barytha paper from digital original mounted on aluminium and framed
90 x 112 cm
Edition of 6
After Arthur Köpcke, People ask: Why? I answer: Why not.
From Reading-Work-Piece No 56, 1966
Elina Brotherus, Tombeau imaginaire 13, 2019
From the series Sebaldiana Memento Mori
Pigment ink print on Museo Silver Rag paper, Back-mounted on aluminium and framed
120 x 90 cm
Edition of 6
Within the exhibition, a further focal point is the new series Sebaldiana. Memento mori, which was created in 2019 on Corsica. On the trail of the writer W.G. Sebald, Elina Brotherus visits various literary settings and thereby establishes a special connection between literature and art, between fictional material and artistic adaptation.
Elina Brotherus, Tombeau imaginaire 18, 2019
From the series Sebaldiana Memento Mori
Pigment ink print on Museo Silver Rag paper, Back-mounted on aluminium and framed 120 x 90 cm
Edition of 6
Elina Brotherus, Artist as Lamp, 2019
From the series Meaningless Work
Pigment ink print on barytha paper from digital original mounted on aluminium and framed
90 x 120 cm
Edition of 6
The title comes from a quote of M. H. Abrams in The Mirror and the Lamp (1953): “The change from imitation to expression, and from the mirror to the fountain, the lamp, and related analogies…”, quoted in Sandra Kisters, The Lure of the Biographical. On the (Self-) Representation of Modern Artists, Valiz, 2017.
€ 8,000 Excluding taxes and additional fees Inquire →Elina Brotherus, Prospect Park Pastoral, 2012
From the series Carpe Fucking Diem
Pigment ink print on barytha paper from digital original mounted on aluminium and framed
90 x 133 cm
Edition of 6