All of the landscapes have the title “As above, so below,” which comes from an ancient text, and might suggest a Dantean reading. The largest work in the exhibition is a dense, tactile painting based on a satellite picture of destruction through war. “When people came in and saw the work when I was making it, they were like, ‘Oh my God, it’s so beautiful.” When the viewers learned the title, “Crater Scar,” their opinions changed, says the artist. “It’s interesting to play on that—the beauty and the horror of it—and that’s also what’s the essence of the Rilke poem. He’s saying, ‘Don’t let yourself lose me, whether it be beauty or terror, you have to go into it.’”
In one drawing in the show, a hand is reaching down to lift another up, in a gesture of welcoming, of succor, of assistance. “Give me your hand,” is the closing line of the Rilke poem that guides the show. Davidsen’s exhibition is similarly a lifeline. It might not always be easy to hold onto, but it offers a valuable and moving connection.
Cathrine Raben Davidsen’s “Let Everything Happen to You” is up at Copenhagen Contemporary from January 25 through May 4.