Louisiana: Round Two. Not The State.

The Arken was brilliant, wasn't it? Well, just two days of post-art-recovery later, I headed to the Louisiana gallery which to Denmark what the Tate Modern is to Great Britain. While entry costs just a little bit more than the Arken Gallery, the collections are vast and transport to and from is very easy (it comes complete with its own train station and town) and sits on the coast of Zealand. I was taken there as a wee, uncultured 5 year old and could only briefly remember it, but oh my goodness did I appreciate it as a pseudo-art-fan at 18. The cafe is brilliant, but heaving, offering a traditional Danish buffet, and the shop is a must-see for Danish design fans.

The exhibition currently is 'Pop Art' which I really enjoyed, even though there is a distinct lack of Lichenstein due to his current retrospective at the Tate (which I was lucky enough to go to a few weeks ago) - it covered all bases including elements that I had never considered before i.e. the role of women in the pop art movement, has anyone else noticed that almost all the predominant pop art artists were men? Tara Donovan has also recently completed an exhibition for Louisiana and I really recommend her work; the installations are phenomonal.

Anyway, the highlights for me were the tiny pieces of Louise Bourgeios that featured and the permanent Kusama installation 'Gleaming Light of Souls' which is not too dissimilar from her 'Infinity Room' which featured in her exhibition in the Tate Modern last year too.

Made from pure buttons!

Louise Bourgeios *flails*

Kusama for the second time!

Who knew that Denmark was so into things other than design, herrings, and being wonderfully expensive? I'm totally kidding, but the Danes really have outdone themselves with their art. Really, really, really.

The Physical Impossibility of a Non-Pretentious Damien Hirst Piece.

N.B: 10/10 if you understand the blogpost title! If not, do some basic Wikipeadia-ing of Damien Hirst and you'll soon be sorted. These titles are becoming more and more cryptic/obnoxious as my blog progresses. Oops.

Anyway, Esther Walker - wife of the esteemed Giles Coren and keen food-blogger - once wrote an article for The Times giving her advice on blogging, with the first of many tips that I didn't agree with, being 'Never Apologise For Not Blogging' followed by 'Blog Consistently or No-One Will Read Your Blog Ever' or something along those lines. Well Ms Walker, I am sorry that I have neither been consistent and am about to be rather apologetic for the former.

While my blogging in America and my follow-up of India were both frequent and interesting, my posts have during this last leg of my gap year have been neither, and for that I apologise! This trip is running away with me, and I am already two weeks from coming home. I know; 22,360 miles, 37 plane hours, 15 art galleries, 8 months, and numerous existential-crises later, I am just 15 days from being home for a sustained amount of time.

The commitment-phobe in me is screaming loudly and frantically searching Easyjet's website for a holiday anywhere.

Though, truth be told, I am looking forward to home-based adventures, and to getting a Real Job in order to earn some money before moving up North at the end of September. As I type this, I am skimming through both my photos and blogposts from this year and wondering how I ended up here, and how, if you'd said to be this time last year that I would wind up living on my own in South-West Berlin to round off nearly 8 months of travelling, I would have made you take a drug-test and walk in a straight line, for fear of you being rather, well, let's just say 'no with it' and be done with my point.

In NY Carlsberg Glyptotek which I would also recommend!

I had a fantastic last week in Roskilde, and the inner art-fan-girl in me had a phenomenal last few days in Denmark as I explored the NY Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum/Gallery, the Arken Gallery, and Louisiana, all on the Zealand island. Last year, I really started to enjoy art, much more than I had previously, and I discovered my love for Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Judy Chicago, Louise Bourgeios, just to name a few. I have tried to encorporate as much art into my travels as I can, and often I've wandered haplessly into an exhibition hall without even realising it.

I hadn't heard of the 'Arken Gallery' until Hanne and Mogens (the very kind, very lovely, very Danish friends whom I stayed with - a shout out to you both, thank you!) mentioned it over dinner last Tuesday, and mentioned in passing that there lies, in said gallery, the biggest collection of Damien Hirst in Northern Europe, due to a recent donation. A tear or two may have been shed at the suggestion that we go later in the week, and I was so utterly impressed with the collection. Having been to, and fallen in love with, his retrospective at the Tate Modern last Spring (almost a year to the date) I was really lucky to see his work again, including some pieces that I'd never heard of.

While it is a bit in the middle of nowhere, I would absolutely recommend this gallery! The other collections (including the current exhibition on Carl Henning-Persden and their permanent exhibitions featuring Grayson Perry  amongst others) are brilliant too, and entrance costs just 95DK (£10). I may have taken a few sneaky photos but shhh, let's not tell the gallery(ies).

Damien!

Just a little bit excited about the Grayson Perry tapestry..

My formaldehyde friends - 'Love's Paradox (Surrender or Autonomy, Seperateness as a Precondition for Connection)'

'Art'