I’ll admit that it wasn’t much that I got to the Venice Biennale in 2011. With my two-year-old daughters in a twin pram, I had a hard time maneuvering over bridges, up and down stairs and through narrow alleys. The whole experience was characterized by mild despair and the taste of blood in the mouth. Nailed in the memory But Bjarne Melgaard’s work “Baton Sinister” still stands as nailed in the memory from that time. Melgaard had taken over a Venetian palace and filled it to the brim with drawings, graffiti, posters with slogans, videos and creepy dolls. The powerful installation revolved around sexuality, death, homosexuality and AIDS. Now this legendary installation forms the starting point for a larger, retrospective Melgaard exhibition at the Haugar Art Museum in Tønsberg. The Venice work is shown together with a selection of paintings from the period 1995 to 2004. POWERFUL: The installation “Baton Sinister” has been deposited to the museum by the savings bank foundation DNB. Photo: Øystein Thorvaldsen / Haugar Kunstmuseum Dark, disillusioned basic atmosphere And although the installation is organized a little differently than I remember, and in completely different premises, I recognize the dark, disillusioned basic atmosphere. It’s formal so I can taste blood in my mouth from then on. But now, fortunately, I have time to immerse myself in another way. I also remember the fascinating paradox of the anti-intellectual, rebel artist Melgaard playing the role of a university professor. The installation is otherwise very unprofessional. The old exhibition poster from 2011 tells us that art cannot change anything. On the floor are high piles of posters, one of which reads: “Why didn’t any safe sex campaign say:” and with the continuation on the next: “Don’t get fucked up the ass. Period.” QUEER-TV: In the middle of the room stands this TV, showing a cut version of Melgaard’s Leo Bersani interview. Photo: ØYSTEIN THORVALDSEN / Haugar Kunstmuseum Central to the installation is a massive wooden table in baroque style with bulging ball feet. The table top is filled with papers and empty soda cans, and on a TV screen you can see Melgaard interviewing the French cultural theorist Leo Bersani. The interview is broken up by film scenes, graphic elements, animation clips and flickering lights, as a kind of cancellation of the attempt to have a conversation. Queer criticism As a theorist, Bersani plays an important countercurrent role in gay discourse. With his polemical work “Is the Rectum a Grave?” from 1987 and “Homos” from 1995, Melgaard criticizes queer theorists such as Judith Butler, who he claims try to force homosexuals to fit into a heteronormative role pattern. REBELLION: Bjarne Melgaard in his studio at Frogner in Oslo. Photo: Petter Sommer / news According to the Norwegian artist, homosexuality should be transgressive, disruptive and oppose notions of ownership and faithfulness. The rebellion against the heteronormative and conventional gay activism also runs like a red thread through Melgaard’s artistry. This is expressed in the focus on the forbidden and on the transgression itself. Outside cupboard Around the wooden table are large paintings leaning against the wall. One shows the fragments of the artist himself shirtless. Above is painted a text about a notorious German child murderer. In burgundy oil paint, the following is written with a thick brush: “Jürgen Bartsch is not in the Venice biennale”. BANNED: Melgaard makes a point that these convicted murderers are banned from the biennale. Photo: ØYSTEIN THORVALDSEN / HAUGAR ART MUSEUM The canvas next to it is also based on a self-portrait. Here, Melgaard has painted a small, stocky man with a shiny orange body. The face is depicted with caricatured African features and with rasta-braided hair. Here it is announced that Mumia Abu Jamal is not included in the biennale either. Jamal was an African-American civil rights activist, who was part of the socialist group Black Panthers. He was sentenced to death for murder. There is undoubtedly something humorous in this remark that these men convicted of murder are banned from the biennale. Because it goes without saying that their outsideness is far more extensive than that. After all, very few people get the opportunity to participate in the Venice Biennale. Master with colors “Baton Sinister” is like a whole exhibition in itself, but Haugar offers several important Melgaard works. Among these are two works that have never before been shown in Norway, on loan from Christen Sveaas’ Kunststiftelse. One of these is the six-metre-long title work “Fuck Me Safer”, which was created in the period between 1995 and 1999. HOME TRACK: “Fuck Me Safer” (1995-1999) is shown for the first time in Norway. Swipe right to continue the painting. Here we can study Melgaard’s expressive idiom: The ability to create chaos that is nevertheless part of a form-wise perfect unity. The picture also shows what a masterful colorist he is at his very best. With his vulgar romantic project, Melgaard draws inspiration from rock and punk aesthetics, but it is also easy to see the Munch influence in the free, meandering lines. Melgaard at his very best To begin with, I think it was strange that no new works have been included in the exhibition. But as I walk through the pictures, I soon agree with myself that this is the right selection. MELGAARD AT HIS BEST: “Untitled (The Panabol)” (left) and “Untitled”. Swipe right for more photos from the exhibition. MELGAARD AT HIS BEST: “Tender Violence”. MELGAARD AT HIS BEST: “Untitled (Stabsnuff)”. MELGAARD AT HIS BEST: “Untitled (Crying Python)”. It has been a long time since I have felt such deep joy in the face of Melgaard’s art. After distanced crypto projects and works where I strongly suspect the assistants did the lion’s share of the work, it’s wonderful to see paintings that have this presence in expression: the explosive power and the smoldering darkness. This is simply Melgaard at his very best. news reviewer Photo: Øystein Thorvaldsen / Haugar Art Museum Title: “Fuck Me Safer” Artist: Bjarne Melgaard Genre: Exhibition Where: Haugar Art Museum in Tønsberg Date: 8 October 2022 – 29 January 2023
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“Fuck Me Safer” by Bjarne Melgaard – Reviews and recommendations
