TO BE UNDONE

TO BE UNDONE
NADJA BOURNONVILLE
22 MAY — 27 JUNE 2010
Opening reception: Saturday 22 May, 17.00 — 19.30 hrs

GALERIE GABRIEL ROLT is proud to present TO BE UNDONE, an exhibition of recent photographs and works on paper by Swedish artist Nadja Bournonville. This is her first solo exhibition in the Netherlands.

The question of "Why?" lies at the root of Nadja Bournonville's practice. This searching, enquiring spirit creates works that seek to make connections out of a myriad ideas; to find sense in the world and her place in it. In photographs, text pieces and works on paper, Bournonville delves into her own experiences and imaginings exploring figures as varied as Harry Houdini and Roland Barthes, resulting in images infused with a surreal playfulness and wistful melancholia.

Following the earlier installments in this series, 'One for every wish' and 'Amor omnia vincit', 'To be undone' marks the culmination of a project which Bournonville began in 2006. The impetus for this series came when Bournonville found a small wooden schooner which almost identically resembled a ship that sank in 1972, taking her uncle with it. A photograph, 'For Magnus and Lefteria', now came into being. This method of creating images Bournonville describes as "a way of figuring out how accidental choices and decisive moments...can change the way we experience and understand life and how traces of them linger on through generations." This poetic logic has been applied to the subsequent works that are each filled with a wonder and fascination about history, psychology, literature and art.

With 'To be undone', Bournonville has drawn inspiration from a reading practice including Moyra Davey, Joseph Cornell, Hanna Segal, Hans Holbein and Rainer Maria Rilke amongst others. It is no surprise therefore that the images are diverse; recordings of performance-like actions, deserted arches, comical sculptural arrangements, absurdist surrealism. Her speculative and intuitive process allows accidental moments, interventions and her own inventions to be playfully combined. What unifies the work is the artist's distinctive aesthetic; muted colors, carefully observed compositions, a stillness that creates a world of its own. However, in this stillness there are a sense of abandonment, foreboding and decay creating a tension with the beauty and magicality of the images. Bournonville holds a fascination with material, surface and texture, her humane and personal touch is deeply felt throughout.


Nadja Bournonville (Vimmerby, Sweden, 1983) lives and works in Leipzig, Germany. She studied at Forsa Folkhögskola and the Glasgow School of Art. Bournonville has shown with galleries internationally and recently completed a residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. In 2007 she participated in 'New Nordic Photography' at Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg. She has
previously exhibited with Galerie Gabriel Rolt in the group show 'Who's Missing?'

Gallery hours: Wednesday to Saturday 12.00 - 18.00 hrs. Address: Elandsgracht 34, 1016 TW Amsterdam. Tel: +31 (0)20 78 55 146. gallery@gabrielrolt.com / www.gabrielrolt.com.
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NOTE TO THE EDITOR: Illustrations and more information can be requested from Wanda Riedijk on +31 20 78 55 146 or through wanda@gabrielrolt.com.