Ulrik Heltoft: Counted, Weighed, Divided
It is a great pleasure to present the Danish artist Ulrik Heltoft’s
second solo show in the gallery during the period October 28th –
December 16th 2006. The exhibition Counted, Weighed, Divided consists of 19 photographs which make up the first part of an ongoing series.
The inspiration to the series of photographs comes from the French Surrealist writer Raymond Roussel’s Nouvelles Impressions d’Afrique
(1928). The book was initiated in 1915 and Roussel spent 15 hours on
writing each of the 1276 lines of the 40-pages long poem. In order to
increase the thickness of the book, the text was only printed on every
other side. Through a detective agency he hired the painter Henri Zo to
contribute with illustrations, which were to be inserted between the
text, hidden in the gap of the uncut pages. Roussel himself was never
in contact with the painter, who received 59 brief and precise
instructions for illustrations such as: A man, bust only, in profile (right profile) aiming at something with a pistol (one cannot see what he is aiming at).
Ulrik Heltoft has used Roussel’s instructions to create the photographs
in this exhibition. The historical material is here transformed to photography, unfolding new contemporary
narratives. The photographs are part of a rather closed system and at
first difficult to place. The situations are not strange and unknown,
but their internal relations point in many different directions which
it is up to the individual viewer to follow. The formal works are
situated at a level of abstraction where very little is given in
advance. The dimensions of the frames are alike while the sizes of the
photographs vary, so that the viewer is forced to move closer or
further away from the works to change focus from detail to whole and
backwards. Like fragtments or clues from a detective story, each
element intrigues the viewer to make endless combinations of
juxtapositions and contractions. The linguistic matter-of-factness of
the instructions adds an almost emblematic character to the
photographs, as if A very old, very sturdy oak was exactly the
essence of the general idea of an old tree detached from time and
space. They are not psychological portraits of types or persons, but
pictures of external and characteristic aspects that leave you with an
impression more than an insight.
Heltoft has previosly worked with instructions from other artists. Last
time it was a given instruction, and now a found one. By using other
artists’ work as source material, he comments on the myths of artistic
innovation and originality and undermines the traditional idea of
authority. The outcome of the exchange is very unpredictable and
Heltoft often works with coincidences, unspotted details and the
formation of communication and meaning. The idea based works are sharp,
fine and quibbling and require a concentrated attention because of
their subtlety.
The title of the exhibition is taken from one of the exhibited works. Counted, Weighed, Divided
refers to the expression to see “the writing on the wall”. It forms
part of a biblical quote where a hand writes on the wall “Mene, Mene,
Tekel, Upharsin”, which means ”number, number, weight, division”,
and thereby foresees the division and delegation of the Babylonian
Empire. The popular understanding of this omen considers the ability to
see what will come. With this an invitation to try and read the signs on the
wall in the gallery.
The exhibition has been supported by The Danish Art Council.
