DITTE EJLERSKOV

Ditte Ejlerskov is a painter who has extended her practice into many other medium. In recent year she has been cleansing her paintings from external elements and inspiration from contemporary culture. She has been focusing on the more formal aspects of painting and the potential spiritual references her works may convey.

The notion of color therapy was discussed as early as in the year 1025 by the Persian physician and philosopher Avicenna. He wrote about the influence of the different light in colors and how it can be used in in treating a person’s lack of energy on different mental and physical levels. In Ejlerskov’s “Dream Gradient Paintings” the artist examines the impact of different colors on the human psyche, something that to herself became very evident in conjunction with the birth of her first child. Ejlerskov also noticed and studied how the two different hormones oxytocin and adrenaline work as each other’s opposites. The oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, is released in the female body during and after childbirth, as well as during intimate moments such as hugs and sex. The opposing hormone, the adrenaline, is the flight or fight hormone and works as the body’s survival hormone during stress and fear. These two hormones, the adrenaline, and the oxytocin, cannot exist in the body at the same time, which makes their relation a constant battle and a constant struggle between two extremes. Ejlerskov’s battling figures, inspired by the antique sculpture “The Wrestlers” in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, has in her world transformed into two female figures representing the two hormones battling the in the human body. The upper of the two wrestling women has become a special cult goddess in Ejlerskov’s oeuvre, appearing in sculptures, textile works, video, drawings, prints and NFTs.

Ditte Ejlerskov, born in 1982 in Frederikshavn, Denmark, lives and works in Skælskør, Denmark. She studied at The Funen Art Academy, Odense, Denmark, and Cooper Union School of Art, New York, USA, and received her MFA from Malmö Art Academy, Sweden.

Her work has been exhibited at museums and art institutions in Denmark, Sweden, and internationally. In Denmark, selected exhibitions include ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art, Ishøj; Vendsyssel Kunstmuseum; Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg; Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen; Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen; Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen; and Aarhus Kunstbygning, Aarhus.

In Sweden, she has exhibited at Malmö Konsthall; Malmö Art Museum; Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg; Kristianstad Konsthall; Uppsala Art Museum; Ystad Art Museum; Skissernas Museum, Museum of Artistic Process and Public Art, Lund; and the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, among others.

Her international exhibitions include presentations in Kristiansand, Norway; Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway; KUBE, Ålesund, Norway; Galleri Nord-Norge, Harstad, Norway; MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany; Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland; Cneai, Chatou, France; and CCA Andratx – Centre of Contemporary Art, Andratx, Spain.

Ejlerskov has received numerous grants from the Danish and Swedish Arts Councils as well as private foundations. She has participated in residencies at CCA Andratx; Asger Jorn’s studio on Læsø; Tækker AIR Berlin; and the Danish Arts Foundation’s residency at Cité internationale des arts in Paris, among others.

Her work is held in numerous institutional and private collections in Denmark, Sweden, and internationally, including the permanent collections of MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo; CCA Andratx – Centre of Contemporary Art; the Danish Arts Foundation; the Public Art Agency Sweden; Malmö Art Museum; Region Stockholm; Umeå Municipality; the City of Lund Art Collection; Region Skåne; Sørlandets Kunstmuseum; and ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art, among others.

Her public art commissions include works for the Arthritis Hospital in Sønderborg; The Basic Health Care College, Denmark; citizenM Copenhagen; Kulturkvarteret, Kristianstad; and Det Musiske Hus, Frederikshavn.

In 2017, Ejlerskov was commissioned by the Danish Parliament to create an official portrait of former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.