The exhibition highlights that Tal R (b. 1967) from the outset has been a storyteller with a special eye for the overlooked, hidden and repressed spaces of modern life. The exhibition title Academy of Tal R should be understood as a mildly humorous provocation, since his artwork always appears free, wild, vital and unacademic. Tal R’s work is personal, his imaginary world is connected with the reality that surrounds him. Already from an early age drawing was essential: “For me, drawing was the same as dreaming at night: you don’t decide what to dream about, you dream about what you need.” His self-identification as an outsider, caught between two worlds, has fuelled a fertile artistic landscape of shifting realities.
With a dynamic exhibition design, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen will invite visitors to step into the unique and dynamic world of Tal R. Academy of Tal R will include known but rarely seen masterpieces, such as the gigantic House of Prince (2003-2005), consisting of almost 200 smaller paintings; and a large and immersive display of sculptures – over 40 in total – which will be installed by Tal R himself, and in which the viewer becomes a participant as they walk among the pieces.
Known for his flamboyant, colorful paintings and exuberant imagery, Tal R’s oeuvre consists of works in drawing, print, textile, sculpture and furniture. His more recent paintings see an evolution in his methodology, both compositionally and in the application of paint. Saturated color is weighted by shadow; festooned and radiant scenes, are simultaneously claustrophobic and labyrinthine. His subject matter is intentionally easy to describe, but meaning, as in dreams, is enigmatic.
Tal R has often used the word 'kolbojnik', meaning leftovers in Hebrew, to describe his practice of sourcing and collecting a wide range of imagery, figurative and abstract, from high and low culture. Installed collectively, Tal R’s works can eschew adherence to a single aesthetic style in favor of a non-hierarchical exploration of material and form, playing with the porous boundary between art and life.
Born in Tel Aviv in 1967, Tal R lives and works in Copenhagen. Previous solo exhibitions have recently been staged at institutional venues including Victoria Miro, Londen (2017), Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (2017), ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark (2013 - 2014); Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2013); Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, Austria, travelling to Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (both 2013); Museu Brasileiro da Escultura, São Paulo (2012); Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (2012); Kunstverein Augsburg-Holbeinhaus, Augsburg, Germany (2011); Der Kunstverein, Hamburg (2011); Magasin III Museum & Foundation for Contemporary Art, Stockholm (2009); Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen (2009); Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht (2008); Camden Arts Centre, London (2008); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark (2007); and Kunsthalle Mannheim (2007). Tal held a Guest Professorship at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 2005–2014.
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen offers a wonderful journey through the history of art. Museum guests are invited to discover the extraordinary museum collection with its masterpieces spanning the centuries from Bosch, Bruegel, Van Eyck and Rembrandt to Salvador Dalí, Kees van Dongen, Edvard Munch and Charley Toorop. Furthermore, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen continuously exhibits prominent installations of contemporary artists, among them Richard Serra’s Waxing Arcs (1980), Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room (1998), Olaf Nicolai’s Apollo (2008) and Studio Wieki Somers’ Merry-Go-Round Coat Rack (2008).
The year 2017 stands as a year of contemporary art at the museum: with exhibitions programme ranging from 'Richard Serra: Drawings 2015–2017', 'Academy of Tal R', 'Gunnel Wåhlstrand' and beyond. Furthermore, a series of commissioned solo projects titled 'Sensory Spaces' has continued bringing site-specific installations responding to the architectural qualities of the museum’s entrance hall with artists Raphael Hefti and Abraham Cruzvillegas.