Henrik Vibskov

Cologne

18th-century English painter Thomas Gainsborough once famously said of his competitor Joshua Reynolds, “Damn him, how various he is!”  21st-century designer Henrik Vibskov could provoke similar bursts of envy among his own peers. While the multi-talented Dane is best known for his eponymous fashion label, he is also a fine artist and a musician: he is the drummer of electronic band Trentemøller and exhibits worldwide in museums and galleries.

A 2001 graduate of London’s renowned Central Saint Martins, Vibskov takes an individual approach when it comes to art. What initially appears childlike, spontaneous and carefree is in fact thoroughly elaborated. Vibskov expects his viewers to be jaded, self-aware and savvy, and his artworks question their prevailing assumptions.

‘Panda People,’ his 2009 work, shows the endangered animal as a cuddly creature, but it could also serve as a warning against their extinction, and possibly – as the title intimates – the end of mankind itself.  Vibskov’s drawings and installations reveal mesmerizing universes and sets of logic. Going beyond postmodernism, they could even be classified as metamodernism.

Whereas the number 68 of Ruttkowski68 reminds of the year of birth of the gallery’s passed on namesake Sven Ruttkowksi, 72 pays tribute to Vibskov’s year of birth.
Not to forget the importance of the year 2012: Henrik Vibskov celebrates the first decade of his career. Hence, Ruttkowski;68 – Vibskovski;72 inheres a retrospective character.

Ruttkowski68

April 13th – May 20th, 2012
Bismarckstrasse 68
59672 Cologne
Germany

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