Subject Seconds
Magnus Frederik Clausen & Yu Nishimura

How does the passage of time correlate with our emotions? The exhibition Subject Seconds explores this question by juxtaposing Yu Nishimura's portraits with Magnus Frederik Clausen's representations of time. At first glance, the choice to place a portrait next to a painting of a clock may seem simple, its repetition throughout the exhibition even monotonous, but with each new combination of both artists’ works, something transformative happens, opening up a third dimension between the two paintings, actively connecting them in space. Placed side by side, these two motifs, with their distinct pictorial qualities, arouse small fictions. With casualness and ease, they explore how time shapes our emotions and, conversely, how our actions infuse time with meaning, as an inseparable pair.

 Yu Nishimura's portraits, painted mostly in oil, are restrained in detail. A few schematic strokes are sufficient to make a face appear on the canvas. With heads framed tightly, often to the point of being cropped by the edge of the painting, the canvases capture almost life-size facial features. Yet these are not standard portraits, but rather depictions of characters caught in a moment, reminiscent of animated film stills. Nishimura employs a variety of techniques to bring them to life: from brushing over freshly painted marks, to repeating shapes that suggest movement. Thus, the facial features appear somewhat blurred, as if in motion. This effect is enhanced through the use of diluted colors, heightening the sense that the figures are active, thinking, expressing concern, or lost in contemplation…

 A moment that could last a minute, an hour, or an eternity – Magnus Frederik Clausen's paintings strangely materialize this halt within time, fixing a precise moment: 12:15; 6:26; 9:35. The impression is that time is afloat within the canvas, in the way that the gentle, almost hazy brush strokes merely suggest a form, reminiscent of Nishimura’s painting approach. Dials, hands, and numbers appear more as abstract signs than concrete figures. Clausen’s series was primarily conceived as a conceptual project: the Danish artist delegated the making of these paintings of time to third parties, providing only two or three simple instructions. The varied interpretations, the imperfections in depiction, reflect the style and skill of each individual contributor, bestowing upon each work a unique character, as if possessed by its own life. 

In some respects, the head-shaped “clocks” echo the simplified forms of Nishimura's human heads. Further strengthening these formal connections, visual links between Clausen's and Nishimura's work materialize not only in terms of their brushwork and shape but also in size and color. It is precisely in this play of similarities and contrasts that a mental mechanism is set into motion: time and face begin to mirror each other, expressing a shared inner state, or even similar emotional tones. Each pairing suggests a different sketch, conveying a feeling shared by both works, in scenes of anxiety, melancholy or tranquility. Time, embodied by these clocks and their imperfect hands, reflects the emotions of the portraits, while the faces, in turn, seem to give emotional life to the hours, imbuing each moment with its own pulse, as if time itself were alive, evolving with human emotions.

Thus, the exhibition Subject Seconds suggests how time, both eternal and fleeting, flows not only around us but through us, shaping what we feel. It reminds us that time and emotions are inseparably linked, two rhythms moving together and shaping one another. 

- Oriane Durand

Yu Nishimura (b. 1982, Kanagawa, Japan) graduated from Tama Art University in 2004 and lives and works in Kanagawa. Recent solo exhibitions include Sleep Walk, ARCH Athens (2024); The Sequel: Twin Boat Songs – Verdigris Vessel, with Kazuyuki Takezaki, Echigo Tsumari, Tokamachi (2023); December Light, La Società della Api, Monaco (2023); and Aperto 09 Nichimura Yu-paragraph, Kanazawa 21st Century Museum Ishikawa (2018); project N 61, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (2015). Recent group exhibitions include L’INCONTRO, Le Quai, Monaco (2023); CADAN Yurakucho, Tokyo (2023); TRACK, DASH, SSTROKE, Goya Curtain, Setagaya (2023); Open Storage: 25 Years of Collecting, The Warehouse, Dallas (2022); Tiere, MD BAR, Cologne (2022); An Exhibition with Little Information, Museum of Contemporary Art Busan (MOCA Busan) (2022); Natural Function, Spiral Garden, Omotesando, Tokyo (2022); and Gute Nacht, curated by Oriane Durand, Braunsfelder, Cologne (2022). Nishimura has been recognised with numerous awards including the Grand Prize, Koji Kinutani Prize (2017); Excellent Work Award, FACE 2014: Sompo Japan Art Award Exhibition (2014); and July Incentive Awar – Kenjiro Hosaka, Shell Art Award (2013). His work is held in various prestigious public collections internationally including AMOCA Wales – Artistic Museum of Contemporary Art; Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; MWoods Museum; Kanazawa 21st Century Museum; Kiyosu City Haruhi Art Museum / Aichi; and The Taguchi Art Collection.

Magnus Frederik Clausen (b. 1981) graduated from The European Graduate School, Saas- Fee, and lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. Recent and upcoming solo/duo exhibitions include Super Super Markt, Berlin (forthcoming), Gauli Zitter, Milano (2024), 2nd Cannons, Los Angeles (2024), ECC, Chieri (2024), CANTINA (with Kaare Ruud),
Aarhus (2023), Billytown, The Hague (2023), Braunsfelder, Cologne (2022), Freddy Gallery (with Mads Lindberg), Harris (2022), C.C.C., Copenhagen (2022), Rinomina (with Claus Haxholm), Paris (2021), Spazio Orr (with David Ostrowski), Brescia (2021), AGA Works (with Sonia Almeida), Copenhagen (2020), The Uffizi (with Mads Lindberg), NY (2020), CGK, Copenhagen (2018), Magasin Lotus, Copenhagen (2018), JIR SANDEL, Copenhagen (2018), Materia Gallery (with Giulia Marchi), Rome (2018), Years, Copenhagen (2015), Palazzo Lucarini, Trevi (2014). Group exhibitions and film screenings include Galleri Opdahl, Stavanger (2024), Via Watt Projects, Milano (2024), Super Super Markt, Berlin (2024), MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai (2023), KNULP, Sydney (2023), Goya Curtain, Tokyo (2023), Haus Wien, Vienna (2021), Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2021), Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus (2021), Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen (2019), Heine Onstad Art Center, Høvikodden (2018), Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2016), Ringsted galleriet, Ringsted (2016), 56th Venice biennale collateral events, Venice (2015), Bruch & Dallas, Cologne (2015), Luma, Arles (2015), Kunstraum, London (2014), Accademia di Romania, Rome (2012), Arti, Amsterdam (2011), Kenya International Film Festival, Nairobi (2011), Traneudstillingen (with TTC), Hellerup (2011), Maison du Danemark, Paris (2010), Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin (2010). Clausen is also the curator and co-founder of Jir Sandel in Copenhagen, an editor and contributor of various art publications, and a recipient of the prestigious Niels Wessel Bagges Kunstfond honorary (2020) and Danish Arts Foundation grants (2021, 2019, 2018, 2017).