TOUCH
A solo exhibition with Jytte Høy
“Høy has a singular eye for such small, humble everyday objects, turning them into wall sculptures that void the object’s original function in favour of a concrete sculpture possessing a new metaphor.”
– MARIA KJÆR THEMSEN ON JYTTE HØY’S “SMALL OBJECTS” IN HAIR NET GEOMETRY, 2019
It has been more than 25 years since Jytte Høy started creating her first “Small Objects”. To celebrate this, Galleri Maria Friis is pleased to present the exhibition TOUCH, which includes both older and brand new artworks by Jytte Høy.
In 1997, Jytte Høy unveiled a series of unassuming wall-mounted objects crafted from everyday materials for the exhibition “New Art from Denmark and Scania” at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Collectively known as “Small Objects”, these sculptures delight viewers with their humor and distinctive poetic sense. Everyday objects such as a tuft of hair is attached to the wall with an awl, a hair net is stretched between nails and a painter’s palette has hair extensions hanging from it as if they were choices of paint. The artworks are at once simple and psychologically challenging, and in their contradictory juxtapositions of materialities, they evade language.
As you step into the gallery space, you will encounter a world where ordinary objects possess a reality of their own. Three tables, positioned as working desks, dominate on the right-hand side. On one, a rubber band extends to its limits between two awls on a green-painted base, forming a sculpture aptly titled “Sketch for the Structure of Peace”. These “Small Objects” exude an intimate yet powerful presence, challenging conventional perceptions.
The exhibition also features works from Jytte Høy’s series “Hair Net Geometry”, where black hair nets, originally intended to control and hide women’s hair, are meticulously mounted on painted plywood with tiny nails. Transformed into captivating geometric shapes, each hair net, stretched to its maximum capacity, forms a unique pattern. Beneath, you can sense traces from the artistic process as delicate pencil lines appear. Together, these hair net sculptures compose an alphabet of forms, revealing the surprising versatility of a simple item like a hair net, capable of assuming a multitude of intricate formations.
Through her artworks, Jytte Høy plays with gendered contrasts, juxtaposing elements such as lace attached to the wall resembling a saw and feminine table legs suspended by a roll of steel wire. Soft and hard materials converge, allowing for a liberated form that invites viewers to explore their own associations. The sculptures become small anti-phrases that rely on the logic of the senses.
Jytte Høy (b. 1951) captivates with her humorous and intelligent sculptures, working with found objects and statements reflecting the concept of different spaces, womanhood and everyday life. She received her education from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and from 1996-2007 she served as the director of Jutland Art Academy. Her work has been widely exhibited in Denmark and internationally and she has made artworks for public spaces in multiple cities including Stockholm, Copenhagen and Aarhus.
Jytte Høy has received multiple important recognitions for her work including Thorvaldsen Medaljen and Statens Kunstfonds Hæderslegat and her artworks are part of the art collection of Sorø Kunstmuseum, Esbjerg Kunstmuseum, Arken Museum for Samtidskunst, Sammlung Block (Berlin), Neues Museum (Nürnberg), ARTER (Istanbul) and Skissernas Museum (Lund).
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Cover image:
Jytte Høy, Untitled, 1997, 27 x 12 x 7,5 cm, awl, hair
