William Wegman, Dog Walk, 2020. 84,5 x 69 cm. Lithography, print 100. DKK 7.000, unframed (ARKEN VIP price: DKK 6.300)

The internationally renowned, American artist William Wegman (b. 1943) is the creator behind the lithography Dog Walk. Wegman has exhibited all over the world captivating audiences with his inventive works. Throughout his career, Wegman has worked in different media including painting and video, but he is world famous for the countless photographic portraits of his Weimaraner dogs taken by him since the 1970’s. With a sense of humor, Wegman investigates the loving and complicated relationship between human and animal, dog and owner. Using costumes and props, Wegman stages the dog as a human-like animal through a mutual collaboration between himself and his four-legged muses.

Dog Walk is one of Wegman’s most iconic photographs – and as a lithographic print, it takes on a softness of colour and a material quality. Wegman presents us with an absurd scene. The two dogs, Flo and Topper, are photographed together, one is on a dog leash on all fours, and the other is standing upright, wearing a big, plush coat. The motif is photographed in a studio setup as we know it from fashion magazines. Wegman plays with our ideas about animal and human, and he questions the relationship between pet and owner. The photograph also puts an emphasis on the unique characteristics of the dogs. They are disciplined and intelligent with a special ability to stand completely still.

Mona Hatoum, Untitled (whisks), 2018. 63,5 x 82 cm. Lithography, print 60. DKK 13.900 framed (ARKEN VIP price: DKK 12.510)

Mona Hatoum is one of the most important international contemporary artists. She was born in 1952 to Palestinian parents in Beirut. Since 1975 she has lived in exile in London, where she was travelling at the time and from where she was unable to return because of the outbreak of war in Lebanon. Many of her works are about conflicts in the world, war and control, gender, the indi¬vi-dual and alienation. She works with sculpture in many different materials and she often uses household utensils in her art.

Untitled (whisks) draws – like many of her other works – on both surrealism and minimalism. The four whisks, which come from Hatoum’s large collection of whisks, are both familiar and alien to us. They may remind us of Grandmother’s whipped-cream desserts, but they are lined up for a strange, strict dance, white on black, in a sharply focused photographic image that gives the utensils a surreal life and makes them look chilly and metallic.

Abdoulaye Konaté, Red Bird 2, 2016. 69 x 88 cm (97,5 x 77 x 3,3 cm, framed). Lithography, print 100. DKK 8 500, framed (ARKEN VIP price: DKK 7 650)

Abdoulaye Konaté from Mali is well known for his beautifully coloured textile works with powerful global messages. Red Bird 2 is related to a childhood memory from nor­thern Mali. At that time crops were grown, and just after the harvest large flocks of birds competed for the seeds and plant parts that were left behind. Konaté particularly remem­bers a very small, beautiful bird, all red with a black breast.

Today the area has become a desert. It is an environmental catastrophe. Konaté’s ARKEN EDITION expresses the dream that the birds will return and that people will harvest again. In the work with the subject the red bird has become a mighty eagle – a powerful bird and a powerful image.

Elmgreen & Dragset, International News, 2014. 158 x 120 cm. (168 x 130 x 2,6 cm. framed) Lithography, print 48. DKK 28 000, framed. (ARKEN VIP price: DKK 25 200)

Elmgreen & Dragset, Classifieds, 2014. 158 x 120 cm. (168 x 130 x 2,6 cm framed) Lithography, print 48. DKK 28 000 framed. (ARKEN VIP price: DKK 25 200)

Clare Woods, Harry Patch, 2014, 94 x 69 cm. Lithography, print 100. DKK 9 500 framed. (ARKEN VIP price: DKK 8 550)

British artist Clare Woods is known for her intense and compelling landscape paintings that take the viewer on a journey into the depths of the forest bed.

In the lithography Harry Patch, nature’s mystery continues to be the artist’s inspiration:the lithographical work displays an overgrown baby cuckoo being fed by a much smaller host bird, a scene from the bird kingdom that appears distorted and absurd.

The scene has been created based on a Victorian photograph and the lithography uses nine different colours, giving the work incredible richness of colour and depth.

Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Double Double Vision Vision, 2013. 70 x 100 cm, lithography. Circulation 100. DKK 8000 framed (ARKEN VIP price DKK 7 200)

British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster are an inseparable couple – as artists and previously also as partners.

In the lithography Double Double Vision Vision, they playfully challenge their vision of one another and the portrait genre.

You are probably familiar with the game ‘Pin the tail on the donkey’. Blindfolded the artists have drawn one another’s portraits, and their facial expressions are completely crooked and fragmented.
For example, Sue has got four eyes and wild eyebrows, Tim’s beard is more and more sparse, and he has three heads – also one in profile.

Using the simple idea of reproducing one another based on memory and the inner picture, the artists’ portraits appear lovingly teasing and liberatingly imperfect.

Atul Dodiya, Twins I, 2012. 70 x 100 cm, lithography. Circulation 75. DKK 7 000 framed (ARKEN VIP price DKK 6 300)

Atul Dodiya, Twins I, 2012. 70 x 100 cm, lithography. Circulation 75. DKK 7 000 framed (ARKEN VIP price DKK 6 300)

Thukral & Tagra, Page 16, ”Yes, I went to school”, 2011. 95,5 x 66,5 cm, lithography. Circulation 100. DKK 7 600 framed (ARKEN VIP price DKK 6 840) SOLD OUT

Thukral & Tagra, Page 62, Swatuntar Kumar Sharma, 2011. 95,5 x 66,5 cm, lithography. Circulation 100. DKK 7 600 framed (ARKEN VIP price DKK 6 840) SOLD OUT

Tale no. 2. Soni Singh, 16 years old

Everywhere there is partying, lots of sweets and fireworks. The whole town is shining brightly, it is Diwali after all. I am making tea in the kitchen for my guests Kiran and her lovely son Soni. Kiran is my neighbour. Her husband lives in America and has been a lorry driver for over ten years. They have a beautiful house – I think it looks very Western. I have heard that Soni’s teacher keeps coming by Kiran’s house to take Soni to school, but he doesn’t want to go. Soni is nearly 15 and is not remotely interested in books, only in showing off all the imported items his father sends him. They constantly talk with Gurmail on the phone and are eagerly awaiting his return. I had better serve them some tea – perhaps they have brought some imported chocolate for me!

Narrative no. 1. Swatuntar Kumar Sharma, 62 years old (priest and gem stone dealer)

It is seven o’ clock in the evening. I am in my office in Delhi. It belongs to my friend’s son and I am waiting for his driver who is going to take me to the airport. I have lived in Jalandhar (Punjab) all my life and have always dreamt of moving abroad. I lived one year in Muscat in the eighties, where I worked as a crane operator. I went home when my father became sick and I wasn’t able to travel again. My parents married me off and now I live with my wife and have two daughters and a son. He was born after endless prayers.
Every year I apply for a visa, but haven’t had any luck yet. Last year I applied for a visa to Canada. I was very hopeful and even told my relatives that this time I had to be successful! But after six months, the embassy returned my empty passport with a red stamp on page 62. I am 62 years old and have never built my own house, as I have always thought I would build it abroad. I am crossing my fingers that it will happen one day! My daughter Shilpa arrives today. She is coming from London after having been away for two years! Perhaps one day I will go with Shilpa and the four of us could settle abroad. OK, so long, I don’t want to be late!

David Schnell, Autobahn, 2011. 70 x 100 cm, lithography. Circulation 100. Price DKK 11 000 framed (ARKEN VIP price DKK 9 900)

The Autobahn lithography by the German David Schnell is right in line with David Schnell’s other art. He is highly sought after internationally for his often large landscape paintings, which mix flickering, stunning colour scales with sweeping spaces and tight lines.

In the Autobahn lithography, we look out of the windscreen while buildings and trees flicker past, like semi- dissolved shapes. We are on our way out of the landscape – only the bright blue sky is a calm contrast to the sweeping perspective.