UKENS BILDE

In connection to the celebration of NKD 25 years in September 2023, the Polish curater Zofia Malysa-Janczy organised an exhibition in the Villa Fagerheim at the NKD structure. The show was named “Starting Point – Turning Point”, in short, refering to the defined timeline created by a residence stay. (More to come about the exhibition.)

The Swedish artist Axel Burendahl contributed with his sculptural work “Mound of butter” (1885), refering the painting of the same title, by the French painter Antoine Vollon. The piece is part of a three piece work.

A slab of wax, mimicking a piece of a partly eaten block of butter. A mundane piece of food, wrapped up in elegant blue and silvery cover, the yellow fabric protrudes from a glitch in the wrap. Glowing yellowish, almost a dull lamp on the white table surface. No scent, if you touch, it stays hard and unprovoked by the tip of your finger. Nothing there, nothing to indulge your tongues taste receptors with. You know it, but you still want to touch it, again. A useless “piece of butter”, left to the fetishization alone, an accidental treasure, you want to hold it, but you know you are not allowed to touch art, nevertheless..

Axel wants to tell us a story of time, how the slab of “butter” reflects a piece of time. In his own words: “it takes around two weeks to finish a pound of butter, he and his family. Two weeks of consuming butter, but also consuming time. A pound of butter in Axels household equals 14 days and nights – a calendar, a clock, an instrument of measurement. An object, vanishing bit by bit, day by day; vanitas. A reflection of what will no longer be, helplessly frozen in yellow wax and silver wrapping.

Short Bio: Axel Burendahl (b. 1985) is a Swedish artist based inCopenhagen (DK) and Malmö (SE). He holds an MFA from Malmö Art Academy (SE) and Maumaus Independent Study Programme (PT).  In his practice he work with installations comprised of sculpture, text and ready-mades. He derives his work from personal experiences of failure, familiar and

See more of Axels works here: https://axelburendahl.com/