Han (2012) # 4
Polished steel sculpture by Elmgreen and Dragset in Helsingør, Denmark.
Elmgreen & Dragset are noted for their underwritten references in a subvert, invert, pervert approach to their art. Han, means ‘him’ in Danish, a diminutive of the name John and a glancing reference to H. C. Andersen, shows a young man positioned on a stone by the seaside. The figure and the stone have been cast in polished stainless steel, created a distorting mirroring effect incorporating the surroundings. In contrast to the romanticized mythology of selfless mermaid, Han is a more narcissistic merboy, with visual over and undertones of iconic gay urchin and the myth of Narcissus, in love with his reflection, and allusions to the aesthetic of Derek Jarman’s film Sebastiane, which explores erotic desire between men. The sculpture has a trick element with a hydraulic mechanism, which will make the eyes of the sculpture blink for a split second once every hour in a Galatea moment of life. As a potential object of collective observation and veneration this is reminiscent of the miraculous tears and blood of weeping religious statues.
Han (2012) # 4
Polished steel sculpture by Elmgreen and Dragset in Helsingør, Denmark.
Elmgreen & Dragset are noted for their underwritten references in a subvert, invert, pervert approach to their art. Han, means ‘him’ in Danish, a diminutive of the name John and a glancing reference to H. C. Andersen, shows a young man positioned on a stone by the seaside. The figure and the stone have been cast in polished stainless steel, created a distorting mirroring effect incorporating the surroundings. In contrast to the romanticized mythology of selfless mermaid, Han is a more narcissistic merboy, with visual over and undertones of iconic gay urchin and the myth of Narcissus, in love with his reflection, and allusions to the aesthetic of Derek Jarman’s film Sebastiane, which explores erotic desire between men. The sculpture has a trick element with a hydraulic mechanism, which will make the eyes of the sculpture blink for a split second once every hour in a Galatea moment of life. As a potential object of collective observation and veneration this is reminiscent of the miraculous tears and blood of weeping religious statues.