The works of Rasmus Nielsen are not just aesthetic obejcts, they also aim at pointing out political problems and carry messages that reach beyond the solely visual impressions. In this way his work distingishes itself from the majority of contemporary art. Here at the dawn of the 21st century, young art experiences a tremendous interest, but at the same time we are presented with artwork that for the most part has either a personal experience or a certain point in art history as its point of departure.

 

There are, however, exceptions such as Peter Carlsen’s satirical paintings and Peter Holst Henckel’s digital pictures that comment on the present political environment, along side the bulk of work produced by a young generation of women artist who view themselves as feminists which is, to a greater or lesser extent, visible in their work. Provocation as a tool for political change is used by Jens Galschiøt, Marco Evaristi and Christian Hornsleth though I think the end is not always met. When they are mentioned anyway it is due to the fact that Rasmus Nielsen’s work can remind the viewer of Hornsleth’s - at first glance. However, there is more to Nielsen’s works.

 

Rasmus Nielsen does not shy away from addressing the biggest of today’s topics, even when these are down right horrible. Back in the 60’s Jasper Johns incoporated the Stars and Stripes in his works and since then the flag as an artistic element has resurfaced in the works of Danish artists such as Sven Dalsgaard and Claus Carstensen. But Rasmus Nielsen works with the American flag in a much more political fashion than we have become accustomed to.

 

At the same time he often works with a wide range of technics and his paintings often exhibit both actual painting, collage, and other visual elements which we usually see on the walls of public spaces. Some of these are the small scriblings as they appear in Nielsen’s "Crimescene (21 Grams)", at other times they are related to the more colorful graffiti ’pieces’ as can be seen in "Voice of the Voiceless". But no matter what form of graffiti Nielsen incorporates, he does it with a natural ease far from the more forced display of graffiti elements that can be found in the works of other artists, and the reason is that for for Rasmus Nielsen, graffiti is a natural starting point for the making of his images.

 

On the other hand Nielsen also works in a more classical way producing series of works where he can explore his visual possibilities. This can be seen in "Searching for Peace I & II". In both works the central figure is a cross shape, but in "Searching for Peace I" the cross is red and placed on a background of collages, which is contrasted by the black cross in "Searching for Peace II", that appears on a backdrop of snow white sanitary towels. At a base level the compositions are the same, but the two resulting images are very different even when they both have blood as the central theme.

 

Some of Rasmus Nielsen’s visual elements and political pointers reappear in different series, such as the number "322". In "Conspiracy Theory" the number can be seen as referring to George W. Bush’s secret loge, but when the number appears in "Geneva Conventions" this reference is more subtle.
In this way Rasmus Nielsen’s works both carry a visual punch and simultaneously harbor political pointers, references and associations to venture into and decipher.

 

--Trine Ross, writer and artcritic at the danish newspaper Politiken.