MELK is excited to present MILKSHAKE #4, a duo exhibition with Copenhagen-based artists Christine Clemmesen and Minh Ngọc Nguyễn.
Two artists who explore materiality and image culture through distinct photographic approaches, yet both engage in contextualizing and questioning the boundaries of the still life genre.
Christine Clemmesen works with photography in an approach that challenges traditional representation. Her images consist of layers of narrative and experience in poetic and abstract forms. A primary focus is on the materiality of the prints, which are often on unconventional materials such as stained glass, silk, color filters and marble. The handmade artist frames function as a kind of press, where material is clamped between the image and the glass front and held as a pressed form – a sculptural translation of what a camera does.
Her focus is not on technical perfection, but on awareness of the medium. Clemmesen works anti-dogmatically with photography – regardless of whether it is analog or digital, sharp, or blurry, large or small. What is crucial is how the medium shapes the expression. The temporal dimension of photography is particularly poetic and a central part of her practice. It contains the ability to both abstract and precisely recognize the world, which makes it ideal for her investigations. This ability creates depth, where time and perception overlap and shift in a narrative that balances between documentary and fiction, and between action and composition.
Minh Ngọc Nguyễn merges pop imagery and stereotypes with a savvy, witty visual language that’s both personal and universal. Drawing on his background in commercial photography, he creates striking, humorous, and relevant images, often in the still-life realm. By remixing Southeast Asian vernacular through a distinctly European lens, informed by post-internet tropes and contemporary image culture, he builds a visual language that reflects both glossy pop culture and layered identity.
Nguyễns artistic practice is rooted in photography – not only as a medium but also as a subject in itself. He primarily works with still life imagery, driven by a desire to explore photography’s potential to both inform and manipulate our collective understandings of culture and identity.
Drawing from his Vietnamese heritage, he investigates Eurocentric representations of his culture and the ways in which visual pop culture distills and portrays Southeast Asia at large. He examines what is considered and labeled as “Asian,” and how these portrayals have influenced his perception of cultural identity.
ABOUT
Christine Clemmesen (b. 1979) graduated from The Slade School of Fine Art in London with an MFA in Sculpture and from Glasgow School of Art with a BA in Photography.
Recent exhibitions include Møstingshus, Tørreloft, Arden Asbæk, Alice Folker Gallery, Rønnebæksholm Kunsthalle, Vandrehallen, Gæsteværelset/Tone Bonnén, and Center for Photography. She is the recipient of a number of grants and awards and was nominated in 2022 for the FOAM Paul Huf Award for her photographic work.
Minh Ngọc Nguyễn (b. 1992) holds an MFA in Photography from HDK-Valand in Gothenburg and a BA in Visual Communication from the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Copenhagen.
He has exhibited at Galleri Andréhn-Schiptjenko, CHART Art Fair, NEVVEN, Oblong, Fotografisk Center, and Röda Sten Konsthall, among others. His work is represented in the collections of KIASMA Helsinki, Danish Arts Foundation, Region Västra Götaland, Göteborg Stad, Nacka Kommun and Jönköpings kommun.
MELK
MELK is an artist-run space in Oslo since 2009, and the leading initiative for new Scandinavian photography. Our aim is to raise awareness of the scene of contemporary photographers in the region and the position of the medium today.
Opening hours during exhibitions:
Thursday & Friday 12:00–16:00
Saturday & Sunday 12:00–16:00
or by appointment
MELK
Elisenbergveien 7, 0265 Oslo