A limited-edition artwork from Danish art star Thomas Øvlisen for art group Assembly Line, featuring silver-plated recycling.
Thomas Øvlisen’s new edition for Assembly Line, entitled ’Tedeen FumVe’ offers a collection of gleaming silver-plated accessoires de bureau derived from the vacuum-formed vessels of everyday food & drink containers. True to Øvlisen’s understated neo-utopian style these ten trophies-of-the-trash put up a utilitarian stance against 21st Century excesses, whilst navigating a wily path through the art/consumer process.
’Tedeen FumVe’ consists of 10 distinct cut-down pots put through a course of silver-plating electro-fusion. The process echoes the alchemic Koonsian transformation of everyday objects from the banal to the beatific while pointing to the utilitarian tools of the artist’s studio. As such, Øvlisen collects the fallout from hyper-abundant consumerism and re-contextualises its value, drawing attention away from conspicuous wealth, and back to the garret where it really matters. His earnest mission is to supply mementos of nouveaux proletarian luxury which speak for the contemporary moment, and cuts Koons down to size.'
This exclusive limited edition performs a classic seduction by simulation, a recycling of the readymade, and a mirror to human behaviour, literally. What Baudrillard described as ‘the obscene promiscuity of consumer signs’ is addressed in ’Tedeen FumVe’, offering a pointed yet caring take on the best and worst of human habits.
Who is Thomas Øvlisen?
Thomas Øvlisen's artistic practice incorporates a juxtaposition of traditionally valued materials and processes with found objects and unconventional materials such as pet plastic, shopping bags, and table tennis table tops. This unique approach creates a platform that challenges established notions of material value and highlights the artist's engagement with contemporary consumer culture and sustainability concerns.
Thomas’s last solo show was ‘Pocket full of Dreams’ at Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York City. He will be included in an upcoming group exhibition at Sophienholm Kunstal, in his native Copenhagen in 2025. Øvlisen is represented by V1 Gallery in Denmark, Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York and Sade, Los Angeles.
Who is Assembly Line?
Assembly Line is a collaborative curator of original limited-edition multiples, fine art products, shops, and exhibitions. Each purchase fuels a collective economy supporting artists through shared proceeds and production funding.
The artists create art multiples, series of original collectable works for sale on the Assembly Line website and via temporary shops and exhibitions. Assembly Line stands for democratic luxury (1), they want their creations to be collectable by people of all classes, but they also want the conversation about contemporary art to be something that is accessible to all.
Why make more than one?
The edition is now available to purchase from the Assembly Line web shop .
Thomas Øvlisen said, ‘“The containers are all typical artist studio holders of brushes, thinners and are staples of the artist studio. They are there right in front of me. They are reused for a third time. They are taken out of the waste cycle (if you buy one, team work, it takes two to fuck shit up).”
Shane Bradford, Assembly Line founder, said, ‘I have known Thomas since 2008 when we were asked to make a 2-person show together at Copenhagen’s V1 Gallery. I knew then that his way of seeing the world was enigmatic, funny, and unique. His work is always slightly off kilter in the best way. He is an art purest, a dreamer, and as this edition shows, has a singular intriguing and contrarian manner, which once you get to know it is really delightful’.
For further Assembly line images/sales contact : Shane Bradfor info@assembly-line.org or DM on Instagram @Assembly_Line_Official
ENDS
(1) Assembly Line believes in and promotes “democratic luxury”- they believe that luxury is something that everyone should be able to enjoy, not just the rich and the super-rich. There is nothing wrong with luxury, it's the cost and scarcity of it that is the problem, and the way in which some people's luxury - the private jet for example- has costs for us all.
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