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Submission
AUGUST 03, 2023
ɴᴏᴠᴇᴍʙᴇʀ 十一月
Nicholas Stewens & Villiam Miklos Andersen at SIMULACRA, Beijing, China
May 26 — July 05, 2023
SIMULACRA is pleased to present ɴᴏᴠᴇᴍʙᴇʀ 十一月, a duo-show by Danish artist Villiam Miklos Andersen and German-American artist Nicholas Stewens, on May 26th as part of Beijing Gallery Weekend 2023.
Presenting a series of paintings and mixed media works, they open up a playing field that is the public space. The contenders find themselves standing on uneven ground defined by systems of others’ logic and thought.
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November is the month that heralds the onset of winter; the leaves have fallen, the frost has come, the colours have faded, and the landscape has become more impassable.
This scene has been described to us many times by poets and singers and screenwriters: Something succumbs to the white cold layer that abstracts the landscape. Winter symbolizes everything mundane–the end of a love or even a loved one. Snow acts as its soft executive. As winter repeats itself in a cycle, it does not need to be forecast. The cold is sure to be expected, but as one awaits it, one invites it where it doesn’ t need to be, at least in that space at that time.
Similarly, we produce a show in May called November. Exactly half a year apart. It is because we have seen this scene so many times that the ideas linger.
Shoulders, fences, playing fields, and car roofs act like personal projection surfaces. It only takes someone to pass by to subject them to their forecasts, coating them in their images and symbols of fears, expectations, guilt, and ideals that settle on them as snow does. The images that lay upon them combine to a noise that is indistinguishable from the soft shimmer the multiplicity of crystals produce. They are as cold and as much a part of the landscape, weighing down on everything they cover. Under pressure, there is not much freedom of movement. It is a harsh environment.
The scene is set; a young man enters.
ɴᴏᴠᴇᴍʙᴇʀ 十一月
Nicholas Stewens & Villiam Miklos Andersen
SIMULACRA, Beijing, China
May 26 — July 05, 2023
Photography: 渣克周 Zachariah Zhou. All images copyright and courtesy of the artists and SIMULACRA, Beijing
Nicholas Stewens was born in 2000 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where he currently lives and works. He started his studies with Mike Bouchet at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach and is now studying with Judith Hopf at the Städelschule in Frankfurt.
His practice focuses on sculpture, painting and installation. The images that he chooses to work with often present a subtle underlying violence. They may be the externalization of an absurd worldview or the projection of a specific self-understanding onto others. These combinations give rise to situations that are unaware of their own hostile nature, with someone or something at their centre being subjected to them. Within this framework, he explores themes that oscillate between guilt and glorification.
Villiam Miklos Andersen (b. 1995, Kalundborg, Denmark) is a visual artist who currently lives and works between Frankfurt am Main and Føllenslev. Having studied at Jutland Art Academy and The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, he graduated in 2021 from Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste – Städelschule with the Meisterschüler titel in the class of prof. Judith Hopf.
Most elements of Andersen’s artistic practice are characterized by an interest in the logistical systems of post industrial society. He investigates how personal and private spheres are interwoven with and shaped by systems created by economic logic. His work portrays lived experiences within a vast network of systems and ever-optimizing practicalities.
In his most recent series of works, Andersen works with motifs of modern work situations that are primarily male-dominated. He explores the potential for sensitivity, care, and meaningful aesthetic moments within these environments, offering a queering look at these environments.
Andersen’s artwork has been showcased in various venues, including Kunsthal Aarhus, Frankfurter Kunstverein, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Spoiler Zone, Danish Cultural Center in Beijing, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, and most recently, his project “The Pawn Shop” was exhibited as part of documenta fifteen in Kassel.
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EST. Lisbon 2010
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