Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg: Only for the wicked
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
Jan 9 – Feb 21, 2025
In “Only for the Wicked,” Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg transform Tanya Bonakdar Gallery into a labyrinthine dreamscape where the grotesque and the whimsical collide. Upon entering, visitors are greeted by a colony of glistening gold beavers nestled among bright blue branches, setting the stage for an exploration into the tangled recesses of the human psyche. This enchanting forest, teeming with fantastical flora and fauna, serves as a prelude to the darker narratives that unfold within the gallery’s depths.
One standout piece, “Only for the Wicked (Bed),” depicts a lascivious encounter between a friar clutching a fistful of gold and a coquettish woman in an 18th-century gown. Their exaggerated, almost caricatured features and movements underscore the absurdity and moral ambiguity of their actions. The scene oscillates between dark humor and unsettling realism, challenging viewers to confront their own perceptions of virtue and vice. As Djurberg explains, “The title ‘Only for the Wicked’ is a bit of a joke because no one believes they are wicked. Everybody thinks they are the good ones.”
Ascending to the gallery’s upper floor, visitors encounter “The Stone Garden,” an immersive installation featuring monumental sculptures of stones bursting open with flowers, gold crevices, and gems. This tactile landscape, accompanied by a soundscape from three stop-motion animations—”Dark Side of the Moon,” “A Pancake Moon,” and “Howling at the Moon”—evokes a sense of mystery and delight. The sculptures’ visceral textures and organic forms invite viewers to explore the delicate balance between beauty and decay, growth and entropy. As described in the gallery’s press release, “every corner reveals a sense of mystery or delight.”
“Only for the Wicked” compels us to examine the dualities inherent in human nature: pleasure and pain, innocence and corruption, victim and aggressor. By presenting familiar archetypes in perplexing and morally ambiguous scenarios, Djurberg and Berg challenge us to reflect on our own biases, fears, and fantasies. Their work serves as a mirror, revealing the darkness our epoch aims to conceal and forcing a reckoning with the complexities of the human condition.
Djurberg and Berg’s work thrives in the tension between playfulness and the macabre, the seductive and the repulsive. Their practice recalls the raw tactility of childhood imagination, where figures emerge from the subconscious in strange and exaggerated forms, yet their narratives are deeply rooted in the anxieties of adulthood. The artists do not offer resolutions or moral conclusions; instead, they revel in the messiness of human nature, allowing humor, horror, and desire to intermingle. In doing so, Only for the Wicked does not simply entertain—it unsettles, provokes, and lingers long after leaving the dreamlike landscape of Tanya Bonakdar Gallery.
