Kristian Touborg

Danish artist Kristian Touborg has epitomized a new kind of subjectivity in painting, pairing intimacy and playfulness with art historical references and new technologies. His works are anchored in the dreamy and seductive authenticity that only materials processed by the human hand can hold. Expanding on meditations on modern image ecology, Touborg has constructed a range of two- and three-dimensional works, which defy categorisation of a specific medium, by applying a mixture of painterly gestures led by spontaneous brushstrokes of vivid oil paint in combination with the use of industrially treated materials and digitally printed surfaces. Collage techniques are then used to construct the textural fragments on the canvasses.

In demonstrating a profound interest in new media and technology, Touborg creates imagined archaeological items from a near-future society. In his practice, he takes a firm stand for the analogue in a world which is overly saturated with digital imagery. Hovering between subtle, often abstract references to the figure and detailed portrayal, the paintings give voice to a personal narrative where private components and dreamlike sensations coalesce.

Kristian Touborg (b.1987 in Roskilde, Denmark) holds an MA from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and he is the recipient of the Danish Arts Foundation working grant (2017). Recent exhibitions include Phantasmagoria, LBF Contemporary, London (2024); Fringes of Reflection, Golsa, Oslo (2023, solo); Merged Echoes, Carvalho Park, New York (2023); Vibrant Escape: Ode to Summer, WOAW Gallery, Hong Kong (2023); NADA, The Hole, New York (2023); Market Art Fair, Stockholm (2023); Art Brussels, Newchild, Brussels (2023); Dandelion, Newchild, Antwerp (2023, solo); Art Antwerp, Newchild, Antwerp (2022); Fluttering The Void, Berlinskej Model, Prague (2022, solo); Trust In Mortals, Brigade Gallery, Copenhagen (2022); Light Blue Noise, Lundgren Gallery, Palma de Mallorca, Spain (2022, solo); KIAF Seoul, Caravalho Park, Seoul (2022); Peripheries, Newchild, Antwerp (2022); Bright Beneath, Eduardo Secci Novo Projects, Milan (2021, solo); and Soft, Metal, Factory — HEART Collection, Herning Art Museum, Denmark (2021). The artist presented his first institutional solo exhibition in 2022 at Kunsthal Kongegaarden. His work is included in the permanent collections of HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Randers Kunstmuseum; The Blake Byrne Collection and Statens Kunstfond. He lives and works in Copenhagen.