Artist: Thora Dolven Balke
Exhibition title: Flow
Venue: Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Date: January 24 – March 16, 2019
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro
Cavalo is pleased to present Thora Dolven Balke’s first solo show at the gallery, Flow, on view January 24 – March 16, 2019, featuring new photographies, sculptures, and video installation by the Norwegian artist. The works on the exhibition depart from a reflection of Thora on the human body and its situations of extreme vulnerability. The artist has been working since 2012 unfolding her analog and digital pictures in sculptural works.
‘Flow’ is a study of bodies as fluid systems, interspersing personal registers of fragility and care events (such as pregnancy, childbirth, illness, mourning) with scenes of marine animals and fountains molds. These are stone faces collected from Museu do Açude in the Tijuca Forest and later remade in pigmented resin, an iconography that the artist frequently visited and aroused her curiosity since moving to Rio de Janeiro three years ago.
A constant practice in Thora’s work are the Polaroid photographs, which she also exposes in her individual. In them, deeply intimate images are first juxtaposed by a custom silicone frame, simulating properties and sensations of human skin. The video sculpture on the gallery floor shows scenes of a white whale carcass found in the far north of Norway.
Thora Dolven Balke (1982) is a Norwegian artist and started her career in 2005. lives and works between Oslo and Rio de Janeiro. Her works were part of exhibitions as “The Collectors”, at the Danish and Nordic Pavilions, 53rd Venice Biennale, 2009; “Lights On – Norwegian Contemporary Art”, Astrup Fearnley Museum Oslo, 2008; the Bienal de Jafre, Catalonia, Spain, 2009. Dolven Balke was one of the two curators of the Lofoten International Art Festival (LIAF) Biennial in 2011 and co-financed and programmed the artist-run space REKORD, in Oslo from 2006 to 2010. Recent exhibitions include; “They, Them” at Galerie Drei, Cologne, 2015; “Kapital.FM” at Wilkinson Gallery, London, 2015; “Innland” at Center Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré, France, 2017; “The Young Lions” Preus Photographic Museum, Oslo, 2017 and solol exhibition “All that respires, conspires” at the UKS Young Artists Society, Oslo, 2017
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Beast, 2019, 4’42” video, manipulated tv screen, cable, towels, plastic cups, 26 × 90 × 54 cm, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Beast, 2019, 4’42” video, manipulated tv screen, cable, towels, plastic cups, 26 × 90 × 54 cm, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, O (Orange), 2019, epoxy resin, pigment, 30 × 23 × 16 cm
Thora Dolven Balke, O (Orange), 2019, epoxy resin, pigment, 30 × 23 × 16 cm
Thora Dolven Balke, Wave Fold, 2019, transparent print, disposable hospital sheet, glass, epoxy resin, 79 × 120 cm
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Safety Measures series, 2009 – 2019, color print of scanned polaroid, glass, epoxy resin, 72 × 93 cm, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, O (Blue), 2019, epoxy resin, pigment, 23 × 23 × 10 cm, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, O (Blue), 2019, epoxy resin, pigment, 23 × 23 × 10 cm, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow series, 2019, polaroid, silicone, glass, structure, 40 × 35 × 3,5 cm, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow series, 2019 (detail), polaroid, silicone, glass, structure, 40 × 35 × 3,5 cm, photo: Thora Dolven Balke
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow series, 2019 (detail), polaroid, silicone, glass, structure, 40 × 35 × 3,5 cm, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Safety Measures series, 2009 – 2019, color print of scanned polaroid, glass, epoxy resin, 72 × 93 cm, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Monarch Fold, 2019, transparent print, disposable hospital sheet, glass, epoxy resin, 79 × 120 cm, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, O (Green), 2019, epoxy resin, pigment, 65 × 59 × 9,5 cm, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow series, 2019, polaroid, silicone, glass, structure, 40 × 35 × 3,5 cm, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow series, 2019, polaroid, silicone, glass, structure, 40 × 35 × 3,5 cm, photo: Thora Dolven Balke
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow series, 2019, polaroid, silicone, glass, structure, 40 × 35 × 3,5 cm, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow series, 2019, polaroid, silicone, glass, structure, 40 × 35 × 3,5 cm, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow series, 2019, polaroid, silicone, glass, structure, 40 × 35 × 3,5 cm, photo: Thora Dolven Balke
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow series, 2019, polaroid, silicone, glass, structure, 40 × 35 × 3,5 cm, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, A1, 2019, color print of scanned polaroid, glass, epoxy resin, 72 × 93 cm, photo: Pat Kilgore
Thora Dolven Balke, O (Pink), 2019, epoxy resin, pigment, 30 × 20 × 6,5 cm, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Flow, 2019, exhibition view, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro, photo: Ana Elisa Cohen
Thora Dolven Balke, Beast, 2019 (still), 4’42” video, manipulated tv screen, cable, towels, plastic cups, 26 × 90 × 54 cm