Opening: Once Upon a Time in America

Once Upon a Time on the dusty cobblestones of Washington Street, the morning haze lay like a thick veil of mystery by the feet of the Brooklyn Bridge, rising at the end of the street as a majestic warden of the vibrant Manhattan in the background. But the fog is hiding more than just the skyline behind. Shattered pieces of the American dream defy its otherwise hopeful tone and reveals a deceitful dark side of honor, deception and forgiveness. This is the adventure of America!

Thus, Gallery Poulsen launches a magnificent epic tale that is released into seventeen artists’ stylized and seductive masterpieces, which in their own unique narrative portray a historical snapshot of our current time that leads us to believe, we are standing inside an opium dream, a nightmare, a faded memory or just in the midst of a nerve rackingly precise vision of the future.

The exhibition shares its title and theme with the legendary Italian film director Sergio Leone’s immortal tale of desire, greed, treachery and broken relationships among America’s lowest-ranking social classes in a raw and merciless class society, which is at least as brutal as the old lawless wild west!

Gallery Poulsen takes over the director’s chair and equally orchestrate our very own monumental tale, visualized by our sublime team of the most profound and refined artists. They do not make use of any dirty tricks on their way directly towards the top but possess ingenuity and the elegant idiom of art as their main weapon. They are relentless in their representations and nothing escapes their razor-sharp brush strokes as they emphasize the fact that the great weight scale of power struggle remains imbalanced as always.

Together, they fill the gallery space to an absolute breaking point with complex scenarios of corruption, inequality and bloody upheavals, work by work in an integrated concoction, produced by our well-known masters Christian Rex van Minnen, Nicola Verlato, Jean-Pierre Roy, Eric White, Monica Cook, Mu Pan, Rainer Hosch, Matt Hansel, Aaron Johnson, Angela Gram, Taylor Schultek and John Jacobsmeyer, as well as a handful of new artists, specifically selected to complement our formidable team.

Our five newly handpicked artists each deliver an intense, in-depth contribution to the overall tale, which fits our solid star-studded team like a glove. Colin Chillag’s obscure group portraits depict a variegated collection of history’s most distinctive characters – good as well as evil. The floor space is captivated by Jud Bergeron’s magnificent behemoth of hyper-narrative sculptures that, in overwhelming elegance, complete the optical tales of the surrounding masterpieces to perfection. Alison Blickle pulls us way back in time with her bygone female imagery, which in delicate, dark scenery hide the remains of a mysterious occurrence. Italian painter Bernardo Siciliano creates a realistic perspective on the inner life that exists behind the walls of the modern metropolis. Time is an equally decisive factor in Kevin Earl Taylor’s surrealist landscapes, which appear as frozen momentary glimpses.

Step inside our incomparable cinematic universe as we unveil a captivating story about God’s own country!

Meet Jean-Pierre Roy, Angela Gram, Mu Pan, Nicola Verlato, Jud Bergeron, Bernardo Siciliano, and John Jacobsmeyer, who will be present at the opening August 18

The exhibition shows more than 30 masterpieces on canvas, paper, panel and photography

Contact the gallery on info@gallerypoulsen.com or tel. + 45 33 33 93 96 for further information.