Nina Beier's installation "China" juxtaposes a glossy, black ceramic dog with a vibrantly painted vase, both featuring jagged, cut-out sections revealing their hollowness. The composition contrasts the smooth, dark surface of the dog against the colorful, intricate patterns on the vase, evoking themes of disruption and incompleteness. The artistic style blends elements of surrealism with the readymade, employing a technique that invites viewers to question the cultural and historical narratives of these objects. Beier's work explores the layers of meaning and value embedded within everyday items, highlighting their sociocultural significance. ...
Nina Beier is interested in the embedded sociocultural significance within and signification transmitted by materials and objects. She works to challenge the everyday readymade objects that she assembles, exploring their symbolic breadth and magnitude. Beier acquires much of her objet d’art by trawling through eBay. This is part of the process, a continuation of the trading process already experienced by these objects. The artist is determined to let objects speak for themselves, to propel their own meaning forward. To achieve this, she experiments with different juxtapositions and hierarchies. Her role is to catalyse a reaction, the spark of contrast between disparate objects. In Sink, a 2018 installation at Spike Island, hand-rolled cigars protrude from ceramic sinks. When unravelled, the cigars reveal several layers of signification; wealth, colonialism, the history of global trade. Through her work, one can begin to comprehend and unpick at what stage objects are imbued with layers of meaning and attributed value. ...
In 2016 Croy Nielsen moved from Berlin to Vienna, where it is located in the beletage apartment of a historical building in the 1st district. The gallery was founded by Oliver Croy (AT) and Henrikke Nielsen (DK). Artists such as Nina Beier, Marie Lund, and Benoît Maire, have been part of the program since its inception, and were later joined by Olga Balema, Georgia Gardner Gray, and Sandra Mujinga. Vienna-based artists include Ernst Yohji Jaeger, Joanna Woś, and Soshiro Matsubara. The gallery has strong ties to the Nordic region, representing several artists from the Scandinavian contries and regularly participating in fairs and projects in the area. ...
