Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Dana Schutz – Twin Parts (2004)
- Specifications
- Description
- The Maker
- Brand:Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Denmark
- Country: Printed in Denmark
- SKU: LA-110789-FJ
- Material: Printed on paper.
- Dimensions:33.1" x 38.4"
The two beings here in Twin Parts—are they images of the paradise idyll from the creation of the world? Or are they trying to build some new beings from fragments of their own body parts in a constant attempt to regenerate themselves? Citizens of the new society?
Dana Schutz's depictions of an almost biblical dimension give rise to reflections on human folly and self-delusion: We stand on the edge, and people rush off, float in vessels or climb to the top of the mountain of the world while pointing and gesturing—as did they have the basic idea of ​​how to save the situation on land.
Several scenes resemble post-disaster arenas, as humans seemingly try to regain control. Schutz is by no means naive in his relationship with the world. It is present with Schutz—and she leaves us in the middle of it.
Dana Schutz fundamentally renews the motif itself to use oil, brushes and canvas. Schutz paints something that often starts in the head or has its roots in language, and she is nourished by this fundamental tension between words and images. Beauty plays no role in her art, showing us that her fabulous technical prowess is something that is primarily at the service of ideas.
Schutz is not on social media, nor does she find her heroes in Google's ever-expanding sources. She finds them primarily in her countless elective relationships with the masters of history, ranging from the Middle Ages to the big guns of modernism. The American/Canadian artist, Philip Guston, not least. They are with her when she puts her thoughts on the canvases, on the paper of the charcoal drawings and in recent years, when she builds the scenery into sculptures.
From the beginning, the founder, Knud W. Jensen, intended for the museum to be a home for modern Danish art. But after only a few years he changed course, and instead of being a predominantly Danish collection, Louisiana became an international museum with many internationally renowned works.
Louisiana's close contact and collaboration with the international arts and cultural milieu has since been one of the museum's greatest strengths. And also one of the main reasons that it has been possible for Louisiana to present an exhibition program that has resonated so strongly with the public over the years. Louisiana has thus achieved a standing as one of the world's most respected exhibition venues, and in the future, it will be able to attract exhibitions and artists at a level that few other museums—either in Denmark or abroad—can match.
Knud W. Jensen put into action many of the period's visionary ideas about modern museum operation, including a desire for art to have a wide audience. It has always been the view at Louisiana that art is not just for an elite but includes experiences and visions for the many.
Why is it called Louisiana?
Many people wonder about the name of the museum. The short explanation is this—a nobleman and his three wives.
Knud W. Jensen chose to "take over" the name of the country house that he later converted to a museum. The property had been built and named in 1855 by Alexander Brun (1814-93), who was an officer and Master of the Royal Hunt and who married three women who were all named Louise.
Here at Louisiana, he was a pioneer in beekeeping and the cultivation of fruit trees.
From the beginning, it was Knud W. Jensen's vision to create a museum with soul, where the public could encounter artwork—not as something pretentious, but rather something that spoke directly to the viewer. And he emphasized the need for "supplementary content" that could help bring alive and enrich the environment: The more opportunities for experience that the program offers, the more Louisiana lives up to its idea—to be a 'musical meeting place' and a milieu that is engaged in contemporary life.
—Knud W. Jensen
