Flesh Studies

Exhibition period 22.11.2013-15.12.2013

Gallery TM51 is excited to announce Erik Tidemann’s Flesh Studies. The show will be the Oslo-based artist’s second solo exhibition at Gallery TM51, following on last year’s RASH LOBO. Flesh Studies will feature a number of new paintings and drawings, as well as a several of Tidemann’s signature large-scale sculptural works.

Bodies that are somehow deformed, broken and mutated stand at the centre of Erik Tidemann’s exhibition. Heads sprouting out of unexpected places as if they were birth defects, eyes and spikes attached to masses of flesh – there is an element of horror throughout the works that make up Flesh Studies. Creatures inhabiting a world where something fundamental has gone wrong; the monsters of childhood fantasies, comic books and video games brought to life.

Organic materials and forms are no strangers to Tidemann’s work as he has frequently worked with taxidermy and animal parts. This organic sensibility also informs Tidemann’s paintings and drawings and is central to his unique aesthetic.

Erik Tidemann in Wasteland 2

TM51 artist Erik Tidemann will have a sculpture featured in the video game Wasteland 2, inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment’s sequel to the classic computer role-playing game Wasteland. Featuring a severed human head attached to a set of knives by its tendons, Tidemann’s sculpture for Wasteland 2 can like much of his work be described as eye-catching, twisted and grotesque. Specifically created for Wasteland 2, the monument will be the first work by Tidemann shown exclusively in a digital world. First published in 1988, the original Wasteland is considered by many to be a spiritual forerunner to the highly successful videogame franchise Fallout. With development of Wasteland 2 now underway due to a massively successful campaign on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, fans can look forward to beta testing of Wasteland 2 starting this October.