I mean, if it’s real, where’s the crease? (2018)

Solo Exhibition I mean, if it’s real, where’s the crease? at Bistro 21, Leipzig, Germany.
2018.05.18 – 2018.05.27

 

 

 Exhibition Text

In the exhibition I mean, if it’s real, where’s the crease? at Bistro 21, Fredrik Åkum exhibits new works that investigate repetitions within painting and an abstract approach to the copying machine. I mean, if it’s real, where’s the crease? is Åkum’s first solo exhibition in Leipzig.

Fredrik Åkum’s artistry has its foundation in painting. In the painting proce,ss the focus is kept on repetition, distortion, delineation and different methods to reach abstractions within the figurative. Most often, the paintings are shown in series with various premises: they may have had their starting point in a photograph, a photocopy, the dust on the glass surface of a copying machine or parts from previous works.
Through his interest in fanzines, artist books and self-publishing, Åkum became acquainted with a variety of copying machines as a common tool. Since 2006 Åkum has produced, distributed, published, exhibited and collected fanzines and artist books focusing on visual art. Because of this the copying machine also became an increasingly common tool in the ongoing painting processes, both practical and as an approach to the canvas.

The title is borrowed from the Hollywood movie Catch Me If You Can (2002) inspired by the counterfeiter Frank Abagnale Jr. And the crease is a recurring element in the new paintings that Fredrik Åkum presents at Bistro 21, both as the idea of a horizon or a figurative divider.