July 30 – August 13, 2022
Press Release Selected Works Ole Aakjaer Miss Multitude July 30 – August 13, 2022 Chase Contemporary is pleased to announce a solo show of watercolor paintings by globally renowned Danish artist Ole Aakjær at its East Hampton, New York, location. Miss Multitude, featuring a selection of twelve large-scale, complex figurative paintings, will be on view from July 30 through August 13, 2022, at Chase Contemporary's East Hampton gallery. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, July 30, from 3-7 p.m. at 66 Newtown Lane. While his works depict women, Aakjær regards them as self portraits which "almost always deal with emotional themes from my personal life, and here I found an almost therapeutic satisfaction in being as honest about myself as possible." Aakjær's masterful, intricate paintings begin with meticulous application of dry, dense watercolor that transforms through the careful addition of water to create vibrant, lush colors that build texture and movement. His past career in advertising and design lends precision to his creative investigation of the feminne psyche. His psychological narratives are revealed through layering of tattoo art, symbols, letters, and motifs that compel a careful gaze. Aakjær borrows from life experience, exploring themes that have intrigued or troubled him since childhood. His subjects are beautiful and feminine, resilient and empowered. Influenced by a wide array of films, comics, philosophy, literature, poetry, music, religion, and cultural references, Aakjær concedes that most of his paintings emerge from intuition. He delves into the multitudinous of the femine persona in search of his own identity. His newly-released second book Aakjær | Painted Soul is available for purchase through Chase Contemporary. His first book, Broken Porcelain (2018), was designed to whisk the reader off on a "wild journey" mapping the artist's career. Ole Aakjær (b. 1962) is a Copenhagen-based, internationally-renowned watercolor artist. Influenced by comic book writers and artists Milo Manara, Enki Bilal, and Jean Giraud (pseudonym Moebius), Aakjær in the mid-1980s published an album at Carlsen,