Artworks

Fredrik Værslev

Lebanon, 2020

Spray paint and turpentine on cotton canvas

60 1/2 x 90 1/2 x 1 1/3 in (153.5 x 230 x 3.3 cm)

(Inv# FV20-004)

Fredrik Vaerslev’s new series of world paintings posit the minimalist designs of nation’s flags, originating from as early as the 13th century, to as recent as the 1990s, as a readymade language, yet not prefabricated readymade flags. Selected for their use of white ground, which is represented by raw cotton canvas, Vaerslev inserts these designs into the language of “hard-edge” painting. Playing on the flags’ dual roles as political markers and decor, as well as the universal legibility of a flag’s format, the works further complicate individual qualitative readings when addressed as a painterly task. Seen together, the works not only play with varying levels of recognition, but also continue to carry the viewers own referents, ideals, and misgivings.