Albion Jeune
Esben Weile Kjær
11.February.26 – 09.April.26
Albion Jeune presents a solo exhibition of five stained-glass works and an inflatable sculpture by Esben Weile Kjær (b. 1992, Copenhagen). The exhibition explores contemporary desires and preoccupations through the lens of medieval culture, both materially and thematically. Kjær seamlessly adopts longstanding visual and material traditions for an uncannily prescient purpose, commenting on the present-day fascination with Gothic aesthetics.
FOOL features five stained-glass works alongside one inflatable sculpture, all on public display for the first time. This solo show marks the first repeat exhibition at Albion Jeune since Kjær inaugurated the gallery with his exhibition I Want to Believe in 2023. He is returning with an entirely new body of stained glass and inflatable sculpture. Kjær’s works explore selfhood by looking back at historical forms of celebration. The acts of emotional expression in each of Kjær's stained-glass works, though depicting imagined figures in historical dress, are immediately poignant to the contemporary viewer. Each of these scenes is influenced by Kjær’s training and practice in performance art.
The works presented in FOOL demonstrate the evolution of Kjær’s intricate use of stained glass. Many of the figures in his new body of works are mirrors, inviting the viewer to look through the figures and back at themselves, catching fragments of their own image in the forms. As a result, Kjær's new stained-glass panels deepen his exploration of identity while inviting the viewer to interact playfully with each of the works. The concentric compositions of several of Kjær's new stained-glass works draw the viewer’s eye inward, encouraging them to get lost in the reverie unfolding in each scene. Through the play between composition and materiality, Kjær's new stained-glass pieces allow the viewer to conjure thoughts of a fantasy that they are literally able to see themselves in.
Alongside these stained-glass works, Kjær presents an inflatable dragon sculpture. The sheer velvet surface of the work is reminiscent of a camera flash or a photographer’s reflector. The otherworldly sculpture appears like a hallucination, its textured surface catching and scattering light in ways that heighten spatial awareness and cultivate a richly sensorial experience. Kjær drags the medieval folkloric motif of the dragon into the present day, commenting on the all-encompassing nature of the technological monster, the digital revolution. The inflatable dragon serves as an indication of how digital representations of the self, despite all the surface level glamour, are perennially searching for something unreal, fantastical, and non-existent.
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Albion Jeune