Carl Mannov at Kunstnerforbundet

Carl Mannov’s exhibition at Kunstnerforbundet explores the inter­section between the staged and the immediate, where everyday elements are inserted into a theatrical reality. In Over­lys­salen (the Skylight Hall), he constructs a frag­mented narrative in which both people and letters function as visual signs detached from clear meaning.

A series of paintings depicts individuals with neutral facial expressions, wearing glasses and striped sweaters. We might feel a sense of familiarity with the characters, but Mannov withholds information and they remain uniden­tifiable. Other works consist of letter frag­ments—where, for example, a “t” might possibly represent a column.

The building blocks of the works—letters, people, body parts, or clothing—are arranged in a sceno­graphy where everything is poten­tially per­for­mative. What unites them all is the ambi­guous balance between encoding and decoding, between figuration and abs­traction.

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Carl Mannov (b. 1990, Copenhagen) holds a Master’s degree in Fine Art from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO), 2016. He works across painting, sculpture, and instal­lation, exploring narrative structure, surface tension, and visual fragmentation. Drawing on references from archi­tecture, sceno­graphy, and graphic aesthetics, he creates complex visual spaces that challenge the viewer’s perception and imagination.

Mannov has held several solo exhibitions, including Kammerspil at Overgaden in Copen­hagen (2021), DVÆLER at Heerz Tooya in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria (2019), and Agggoraphobe at Christian Andersen in Copenhagen (2018). Barbara at Kunstner­forbundet is his first solo exhibition in Norway outside of his regular gallery, STANDARD (OSLO).

Group exhibitions include Describe Me the View from My Window at Union Pacific in London (2024), Jeg kaller det kunst (I Call It Art) at the National Museum of Norway, Oslo (2022), Decembristerne at Den Frie in Copen­hagen (2022), and shows at MAUVE in Vienna and Salzburger Kunstverein in Austria. In 2023, Mannov was an artist-in-residence at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York. He has received several grants, including a three-year working grant from Arts Council Norway (2017) and multiple working grants from the Danish Arts Foun­dation. His works are part of the Danish Arts Foundation’s collection. In 2022, he completed a public commission for the Court of Appeal of Eastern Denmark in Copenhagen.

The exhibition is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation and Arts Council Norway.