Ghislaine Leung at Simian

Artist: Ghislaine Leung

Exhibition title: Fountains

Venue: Simian, Copenhagen, Denmark

Date: February 25 – April 16, 2023

Photography: GRAYSC / All images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Simian, Copenhagen

Note: Exhibition’s booklet is available here

Catalogue Work, 2020. 537 Characters, 101 Words. Variable Dimensions.

The term shedding light is often used in the context of explanatory texts. I have dozens of photos I have tried to take of some weird thing in the inside of my mouth using the flash on my phone, or sometimes a combination of torch and flash, awkwardly both positioned in one hand. To see some little fleshy nodule or chewed bit of mouth. And the photos are inevitably over or under exposed or blurry or at the wrong angle. Illumination is perhaps not the same as more light, it is often something that happens in and because of the dark.

Ghislaine Leung (born 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a British artist whose work often take a critical look at the sociopolitical and spatial conditions of art production and (re)presentation. Solo shows have been dedicated to her practice at Maxwell Graham/Essex Street in New York City (2022/2019), Ivory Tars in Glasgow (2022), Caravan in Oslo (2022), Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach (2021), Ordet in Milan (2021), Cabinet in London (2021) and Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2019) and elsewhere. Leung has recently participated in group shows at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin (2022), The Renaissance Society in Chicago (2022), anonymous gallery in New York (2022), CAPC in Bordeaux (2022), Goldsmiths CCA in London (2022), Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien in Vienna (2022), Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen in Düsseldorf (2021), among others. Her book Partners was published by Cell Projects in 2018, her second book will be published by Divided Publishing this year. Leung lives and works in London, UK.

Ghislaine Leung, Fountains, 2023, exhibition view, Simian, Copenhagen

Ghislaine Leung, Violets 2, 2018, Score: All pipes removed for refurbishment reinstalled within the space of one exhibition and fixed from the floor using as much of the material as possible while keeping it all interconnected. Spare pieces that do not fit in this configuration are to be bracketed together in smaller formations. A welcome sign to be installed

Ghislaine Leung, Fountains, 2023, exhibition view, Simian, Copenhagen

Ghislaine Leung, Hours, 2022, Score: A wall painting the size of the artist’s home studio wall divided into all the hours of the week with the portion of studio hours available to the artist marked in black. Thursday 9AM-4PM, Friday 9AM-4PM

Ghislaine Leung, Monitors, 2022, Score: A baby monitor installed in one room and broadcast to another

Ghislaine Leung, Fountains, 2023, exhibition view, Simian, Copenhagen

Ghislaine Leung, Public Sculpture, 2018, Courtesy of Børnecenter København. Score: A group of toys in the collection of a public library is given a catalog or call number inclusive of the group. The group is loaned and displayed in an exhibition space