One of my favorite art shows I have been was David Shrigley and Tal R’s show of works on paper at Anton Kern Gallery in New York in 2024. I think about it a lot, especially as a show of artists in dialogue, in conversation, how humor works in art, how irreverence works, how a little mystery and fun works in the hallowed halls of a white gallery, too. And Shrigley always seems to get it, but what I didn’t realize is how much I love the Danish artist Tal R, and how much his work has moved me over the years and how much he continues to surprise me. Maybe it’s his name? There is a mystery there, too, like an author from the early 20th century, a pen name, a sort of moniker that leaves a little sense of discovery.
Moonwalk is Tal R’s newest show, on view at Gl. Holtegaard, and a focus on more of his sculptural work than the works on paper I saw a few years ago. The works are absurd but considered, which is kind of the best part of the whole body of work. His works has always been what the Hebrew term would be, “kolbojnik,” meaning "leftovers" — the idea of collecting and combining existing imagery, patterns, and references into something new. And in this show, somewhere in the Moonwalk, he is picking apart his own practice and his own ideas to create something almost uneven and obtuse but completely fun and, again, mysterious. What is this? But I love it.
In a way, Tal R reminds me a bit of Paul McCarthy, minus the sex and gore, but there is a little sex in here, too. But they are kindred spirits in a way. For Tal R, the materials shift constantly — papier-mâché, textile, plaster, bronze — as if the show refuses to settle into any single sculptural language. Fantastical animals, inverted figures, and objects that hover somewhere between ritual object and carnival prop populate the rooms, culminating in a monumental bronze, The Archer (2026), that greets visitors early on. A good reason to take a drive from Copenhagen… —Evan Pricco
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