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“I am just like a bird. I just look at these things superficially. Because actually I need them in a different way. There’s for me no difference between a cheap toy or old china ceramic – it’s all the same.” —Tal R

Opening on the occasion of Gallery Weekend Berlin, Contemporary Fine Arts is pleased to present an exhibition by Tal R, Jew Cherry, Clown and Congo, his 13^th solo exhibition with CFA, April 27 through June 1, 2019. In this video, CFA visits with Tal R in his Copenhagen studio while he prepares for his exhibition.

The paintings in Jew Cherry, Clown and Congo take three rooms in his home as their stage. More specifically, three pieces of furniture: the living room shelf with its diamond pattern, the pastel-striped furniture of the playroom, and the round kitchen table. These are the three places in Tal’s apartment that he can trust when he paints. Where line and light and a familiar sense of time allow him to return to his subject matter – objects, the reclining figure – which he has continued to play with since he began painting everyday things over twenty years ago.

Tal is interested in the multiple meanings an object holds – personal, collective – the permutations in meaning when objects are placed together. Since the late 90s, Tal has used Kolbojnik , the Hebrew word for leftovers, to describe his practice of accumulating and arranging objects, bits and pieces, in his life and on the canvas. In 2008, he moved studios and let the multitude go. Now, he holds the objects lightly, pays attention to the intuitive process of what he is drawn to.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1967, Tal R lives and works in Copenhagen. One of the most influential artists of his generation, he held a Professorship at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 2005 to 2014. His first dedicated sculpture exhibition will open at Copenhagen’s Glyptotek in 2020. Solo exhibitions have been staged at institutional venues including Louisiana Museum of Modern Art travelling to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam (2017); ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark (2013 – 2014); Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2013); Museu Brasileiro da Escultura, São Paulo (2012), and Der Kunstverein, Hamburg (2011).