Martin Bigum & JF Willumsen
February 10 – July 28, 2024
Martin Bigum and JF Willumsen – An artistic meeting across time
There are a number of incredible coincidences in the work of Martin Bigum and JF Willumsen. Themes, color tones and motifs creep in and out of each other across time and place. These coincidences, which are presented side by side in the exhibition, in themselves make a comparison between the two artists interesting. But it is the artistic process, seen from the perspective of the creative artist, that is the core of the exhibition. At the exhibition, the audience can experience paintings, lithographs, sculptures, photographs, drawings and sketches by Willumsen and Bigum – from their very young years to their more mature productions. Martin Bigum's song poem collection "Overmorgen" and piano improvisations will also be included in the exhibition in dialogue with the exhibited works.
It is Bigum's dazzling communication skills and personal approach to both his own works and the wider history of art that he brings to the exhibition. Based on his own and Willumsen's artistic practice, Bigum takes the audience through the often demanding and complex aspects of the artistic process. The exhibition is a journey through being a visual artist, and offers a look behind the scenes of both Willumsen and Bigum through Bigum's personal and present narrative.
Martin Bigum
Self-portrait after Hans Christian Andersen's The Shadow
1999
J.F. Willumsen
Project for a statue of the painter
1941
Martin Bigum and artistic creation. Like a moth to the flame
The title of the exhibition is Bigum's own words for the artist's life and artistic creation:
"Like a moth to a flame. That's probably the best way to describe making art. You make your art without anyone asking you to. I can almost hear the crackle, the sizzle, the sudden flare-up and the irrevocable burning that occurs when the moth is lured by the dancing flame of the wall and flies into it. And yet it doesn't. Because unlike the moth, not all artists burn up. Some come out whole on the other side like a Phoenix, or a Pegasus.”
With these words as the guiding principle, the exhibition unfolds with a sharply angled focus on precisely what is fragile, daring and, for some, incomprehensible and always fascinating in the artist's life and the creative process. Like a moth to the flame. Martin Bigum & J.F. Willumsen unfolds precisely sides of the artist's life that are not always presented publicly, but which Bigum has access to for good reasons. The side where the drive towards reinvention and innovation also always entails a risk of burning out or completely dying out. With Bigum's completely personal entry into the artistic process, the door is opened to what it means to depict the world in images – both the visible and invisible world – the world no one asked for. The world no one knew we were missing. The world we, now that it exists, absolutely do not want to be without.
Martin Bigum
Radical Myth (Henrik Nordbrandt)
1994
J.F. Willumsen
Sophus Claussen reads his poem “Imperia” to Helge Rode and JF Willumsen
1916
On tour around the country
Like a moth to the flame. Martin Bigum & JF Willumsen will be on display at Willumsens Museum from February 10 to July 28, 2024. After that, it will be sent to Randers Kunstmuseum, which will invite guests into Willumsens and Bigums' universe from August 10 to November 10, 2024.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue with texts by Martin Bigum and art historian Merete Sanderhoff, who is co-curator of the exhibition and has extensive knowledge of both Willumsen's and Bigum's production. The texts complement the exhibition's impact with even more aspects and perspectives that the meeting between the two artists reveals.
Martin Bigum
The Father
2015-16
J.F. Willumsen
The painter and his family
1912
