Blum & Poe is pleased to present Beyond Devotion, an exhibition of new paintings and sculpture by Copenhagen-based artist Alexander Tovborg. This marks the artist’s fourth solo presentation with the gallery.
In Beyond Devotion, Alexander Tovborg continues expounding on the morphology of the great archetypes already associated with his artistic identity. Throughout the sculptures and paintings that make up the exhibition, Tovborg has seamlessly interwoven symbols of Christianity, mysticism, mythology, astrology, and botany. Without the constrains of chronology, temporality, science, or naturalism, Tovborg is able to move freely between these disparate, symbolic realms.
Tovborg’s deployment of Christian iconography simultaneously offers viewers a means of entry into his complex and idiosyncratic visual language and serves as a means of critiquing the patriarchal history of the church. In dea madonna with rainbow crown (night) (2021) a mother is shown cradling her child. This pastel and acrylic work represents Tovborg’s contribution to the most recognizable example of Christian iconography: the Virgin Mary holding Christ in her arms. In Tovborg’s variation, however, the infant Christ is depicted as Dea, the daughter of God. This subversive reimagining of the central narrative of Christianity sees Dea taking the place of Christ.