About the Artist

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIO

Heidi Hove Pedersen was born in Denmark in 1976 and currently lives and works in Copenhagen. She graduated at Funen Art Academy (DK) in 2007 and she has also been studying one year (05/06) at the MFA program at California College of the Arts in San Francisco (US). Furthermore, she is a member of the exhibition site, Koh-i-noor in Copenhagen and The Berlin Office in Kreuzberg, Berlin.

Heidi is an interdisciplinary artist, whose work explores the lives of ordinary individuals and the public and private spaces that we travel through. The medium is primarily objects, installation, and photography. Subjects and tales from everyday life are created and emphasized. Common and ordinary objects are being copied, modified, transformed, and placed in new connections for the purpose of changing the meaning or perception of how we look and deal with these in our daily lives. One example is The Prohibition Sign exhibited at Odense Airport, which thematizes the import of an American phenomenon: the privatization and the regulations of the public space. The sign “No dogs, No Alcohol & Don’t feed the Birds” is a copy of a sign from the Wharf in Santa Cruz (US). Heidi is very influenced by her social surroundings. Especially, peoples habits and behavior patterns toward the objects and animals, we surround ourselves with, have attracted her attention. One example is the object, Girl on Blanket that is a six-year-old girl transformed into an army- and princess dressed Bratz doll. The transformation shifts the object from a familiar toy to an alienated and threatening object that has a powerful signaling value. Humor is also an important factor in her work and it is often used to create a dialogue with the audience. That is very apparent in the objects from the series: Me and my truck. Among other things, it consists of mini-models of people’s trucks made of matches, which transform the usually masculine and heavy trucks to some “easy destroyable”, small, and toy-look-a-like objects.

The work of Heidi Hove Pedersen has been shown both nationally and internationally in Rhys Gallery, Boston; The Lab, San Francisco; Sparwasser HQ, Berlin; Lawndale Artcenter, Houston, Parkingallery, Tehran; Fast video, Copenhagen; and more.

 

*****

Excerpts from a review of This Could be the Beginning of af Beautiful Friendship, 2007:

"....fx Heidi Hove Pedersens skilte-værk The Prohibition Sign. Værket kredser, som hendes andet værk placeret i forhallen Girl on Blanket, om en dobbelttydighed. Hun illustrerer en disneyficeret jagt efter det skønne og det regelrette konforme. Alt det der ensretter os og som fjerner os fra det individuelle mangfoldige. Det er meget smart af Heidi Hove Pedersen, at lege med illusioner på denne måde, for man bliver konstant mindet om, hvor let de kan briste. Ikke nok med at man bliver konfronteret med en farvestrålende plasticitet i Heidi Hoves værker, så synes hun ligeledes at pege på noget fremtidsorienterende i hendes værker. Det ses helt konkret i hendes skiltning, men ligeledes i hendes overdimensionerede dukker. Tager vi ikke afstand, ser vi ikke igennem dette univers, så havner vi i en verden, der har overtaget os i det materielle".

Text by art-historian, Cecilie Bepler (DK).