Magasin 3 has the pleasure of introducing German artist Anton Henning in his first solo exhibition in Scandinavia.Too much Skin, Taste & Turpentine is the largest exhibition that Magasin 3 has arranged by a single artist.

“It’s wonderful that Anton Henning is coming to Sweden at last,” says exhibition curator Richard Julin. “His ingenious way of playing with the present and the history of art is unique. It’s almost impossible to put his real significance into words. The exhibition we’ve created is the best text about his art, for it’s in the various rooms that you get the total art experience that always arises from an encounter with Henning. He’s just as unafraid to upset as he is to delight, and leaves no one unmoved.”

Anton Henning’s work is often described as a Gesamtkunstwerk – a total work of art – and constantly challenges notions of good taste, especially with the many nude portraits he calls “Pin-ups”. He also comments on the nudist culture that emerged in Germany during the 1920s and 30s. Voyeurism is a recurrent theme in Henning’s works, and so the salon, with Henning’s paintings, furniture, lighting and objects, becomes an arena for observing and being observed. He freely synthesizes painting, drawing, sculpture and video into large environments and shifts fluidly between abstract expression and figurative elements to create his own idiosyncratic world of representation. Anton Henning has a special relationship with modernism and artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, but moves with ease through art history and the present.

READING ROOM

magasin3.com/antonhenning is a website dedicated to the exhibition Anton Henning Too Much Skin, Taste & Turpentine at Magasin 3. It is packed with extra material and information on the artist’s work, and gives an introduction to the exhibition and the rest of this autumn’s programme. Visitors to the site can find descriptions of Henning’s works, articles, films and images of all works included in the exhibition. There’s also a selection of theoretical texts, and samples of his music. Exhibition curator Richard Julin has also documented the making of the exhibition with a scrapbook of photos and film clips from his visits to the artist’s studio in Manker, Germany. The material is available exclusively on the Magasin 3 website. Have a look around!