Derek Eller Gallery is pleased to present The Generous Gambler, a solo exhibition of new works by Danish artist Peter Linde Busk. Working in mosaic and collage comprised of a vast array of recycled material and detritus, Busk composes intricate, monumental wall reliefs reminiscent of Spolia architecture, Byzantine chapels, and Art Brut.
Busk has created a living ecosystem that constantly feeds his practice. Studies, fragments, cuttings, leftover wood, cardboard, glass, and paper are re-purposed and incorporated into compositions. This simultaneous scarcity and abundance of material provides a sense of freedom and constraint characteristic of his work. This dialectic is also instilled in the fantastical characters that populate his oeuvre. Clown-like knights, fallen dandies, and kings seem at once in control of their narrative and environment while trapped within their own worlds.
For this new body of work, an apparent tone of celebration transpires. Busk creates an inviting universe, more colorful than ever before. Departing from a toned down and washed out palette, these new pieces are vibrant with bright pink and yellow harlequin checkers recalling the joyous cacophony of his studio and the spirit of the carnival.
But behind such exuberance, darkness looms. Busk throws his characters into a transient state where power dynamics shift. The chaotic, densely layered backgrounds take over; his grotesque figures attempt an escape from isolation, desperate for engagement. Busk propels the viewer into an upside-down world, blurring lines between comedy and tragedy, reality and fiction, abstraction and figuration, "high" and "low art". In times of extreme confusion and chaos, this exhibition is a call for empathy towards the disenfranchised.
Born in 1973 in Copenhagen, Peter Linde Busk lives and works in Berlin. He has exhibited extensively abroad including recent solo exhibitions at MONITOR, Lisbon and Rome; Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen; Borås Konstmuseum, Borås, Sweden; GL Strand, Copenhagen; Josh Lilley Gallery, London; and Hosterbro Kunstmuseum, Hosterbro. This will be his second exhibition with the gallery.