In his exhibition »On the Brink of Surface«, artist Henrik Eiben is showing new wall works and sculptures spread over two floors. The works explore the boundaries of genres and play with references through the joyful use of color and a wide variety of materials. All the works are made up of several parts that are mutually dependent and form surprising new units.
The large-format work »New Morning« and the smaller work »The Wanderer« play with the idea of positive and negative forms. The canvas square has a diagonal cut-out at the bottom right edge, which is filled with a wooden acute angle that runs along the bottom edge like a frame. The almost monochrome painting with its strikingly visible brushstrokes contrasts with the other elements in the choice of colors and materials.
Henrik Eiben has wrapped the basic wooden form of the work »Stargazer« in different beige-colored fabrics and supplemented it with an element of creamy white felt. Occasional colored accents can be discovered on the sides. The angular shape in combination with soft fabrics of different haptics gives the work an inner tension.
The two sculptures »Petit Rubis« and »Star-Crossed Lovers« are presented on simple wooden tables. Each consists of four triangular shapes of different sizes, some with curved edges. Set diagonally into each other, the individual pieces of marble and wood hold up one another. Henrik Eiben adds contrasting oil colors to the natural materials with their fine grain.
The work »Apollo 4« in the lower room consists of two amorphously shaped canvases whose primer remains partially visible under the yellowish and orange color gradient. Between two yew wood elements attached to the wall, the canvases hold each other, they are interdependent and only form a unit when their parts interact.
Just as the exhibited works are made up of many different elements, the exhibition results from the combination of these in turn and proves once again that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
