2021 Catalogue Archive

With an eye towards religious narratives and mythology, Danish artist Alexander Tovborg constructs mystical bodies of work in bold, geometric shapes and intense colors. His semi-abstract compositions are filled with symbolism, like in his recent body of work, Sacrificial Love, that casts his pregnant partner, cellist Cæcilie Trier, as the Virgin Mary, Eve, and Saint Cecilia, surrounded by lilies, tulips, or serpents. In Dea Madonna with Tulip and the Serpent (Spring Morning), the stacked green, yellow, and red hued shapes coalesce into the image of a woman (the Madonna/Cæcilie Trier), holding a child’s tilted head against her face. Her hands are demarcated with orange, yellow, blue, and maroon stripes that support the baby, while the symbolic tulip and serpent fill the painting below them. The tenderness of the subject and his family’s personal experience is made archetypal through his intense repetition of form and color. Tovborg’s work has been the subject of international solo exhibitions at Dronningmølle, Denmark; Overgaden Institute for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark; and Museet for Religiøs Kunst, Lemvig, Denmark, among others. His work is part of various public Danish institutions and was recently acquired by the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.