Mikkel Carl
Don’t Look at Me Like I’m the Future
Det Fynske Kunstakademi | Skulptursalen
Odense, Denmark
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Dear Principal,
I’m writing to ask if it would be possible to postpone the opening of my solo exhibition Don’t Look at Me Like I’m the Future in Skulptursalen until January 24, 2020. I probably should have made a production plan like the one I teach the students to use
The six major paintings comprising Untitled (You Hate the Fact that You Bought the Dream, and They Sold You One) are pretty much done. They consist of metal foil scratched and treated with graphite powder, aluminum spray, rust, hot glue, and silver leaf—but with no trace of the artist’s hand: paintings without a sender.
By contrast, the installation Second Skin, which consists of approximately five hundred pieces of bark from a dead chestnut tree, is not ready. Each piece of bark must be hand-polished, which takes much longer than expected. That is partly because the oil-based graphite paint dries slowly in my studio that is without heat.
In the end, the bark will be laid out, taking up the entire floor. That means that during the exhibition period, we can’t move in a straight line from the front door to the auditorium. Instead, we have to go all the way around, walking close to the wall. I hope this will not cause problems. I also think we should keep the door to the balcony on the first floor open so that the audience has the opportunity to see it all from above.
Sincerely,
Mikkel Carl
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