Hans Alf Gallery is proud to present Anders SCRMN Meisner's new solo exhibition, Everything is Amplified, which opens on April 5.
Since Anders SCRMN Meisner had his first exhibition with Hans Alf Gallery in 2012, his artistic practice has gone through a complex and fascinating metamorphosis. SCRMN’s imagery has become more disciplined and refined through the years, he has undertaken a significant transition from collage through paper to now almost exclusively working on canvas, and he has developed a color scheme, a distinct hue that sets him apart. SCRMN’s universe is singular and eclectic, and his brushstrokes are so undeniably his.
Throughout the years, SCRMN has exhibited extensively abroad, but a major, international breakthrough has eluded him. Until now. In May, SCRMN will have his first solo exhibition with Kristin Hjellegjerde in London; in June, he will be exhibiting at Schloss Goerne outside of Berlin (also with Hjellegjerde); in August, a new and promising collaboration with American gallery The Pit kicks off, as SCRMN takes part in their annual summer group show; and come November, his works will be on display with Isabel Sullivan Gallery in New York. All of this is followed by major solo exhibitions in New York and LA in 2025, and SCRMN’s first participation in the EXPO Chicago art fair.
In “Everything is Amplified”, SCRMN revisits something that was vital in his early works; an almost fetishistic obsession with seemingly trivial objects, which are elevated and impregnated with complex stories and personal memories in the artist’s idiosyncratic vernacular. The childhood PEZ dispensers meticulously arranged on a skateboard; an old suitcase; a woman’s pink pumps; a miniature horse; an upright piano – all of these are innocent objects of everyday life that are bestowed with a new and deeper meaning in SCRMN’s peculiar tableaus. And concurrently the picture frame is ceaselessly invaded by trees, shrubbery, twigs, flowers and leaves as constant reminders of a metaphoric wilderness lurking in or around us; a symbolic juxtaposition of nature and culture.
“Everything is Amplified” has two meanings: On one hand, the title refers to the actual amplifiers in SCRMN’s new paintings; on the other, it refers to a more abstract feeling that everything in the show – colors, emotions, objects – are enlarged.
The artist explains this quite poignantly:
“The first painting, I did for the show, was of a guitar amp. There is a lot of nostalgia in guitar amplifiers for me; they remind me of my teenage years, of punk, rebellion, and youthful noise. So that became the impetus for the show. At the same time, the title also refers to the depicted objects themselves, as they are generally enhanced and amplified. In some sense, I have zoomed in on everything in a sort of hyper-sensitive, mescaline teenage fever-dream, where every object is imbued with private emotions and memories. In a lot of ways, “Everything is Amplified” marks a return to the exhibition “The World Was Weird” from 2014 and my obsession with the inherent history of a given object. Back then, American author John Albert wrote that “seemingly unremarkable objects become keys to unraveling memories and the nature of the human experience.” I think that sums up the exhibition quite well.
"Everything is Amplified" opens April 5 in the main gallery, and will be on view through April 27.
