Vigo is proud to announce Traveller's Journal, our second solo show with Henrik Godsk, the first at Mason’s Yard following on from his exhibition last year at the Quadriga galleries at Wellington Arch in association with English Heritage.
Godsk is of seventh-generation Traveller heritage, his practice reflecting his pride in his upbringing and cultural identity growing up in the world of the itinerant Fun Fair. His paintings fuse folkloric and high art, with his portrait subjects essentially acting as vessels for his exploration of colour and form. The formal components of his practice are inseparable from time spent as a child painting the panels and façades during renovations of the rides. The androgynous and striking forms of his portraits are reminiscent of the accentuated designs of these fairground attractions and in this exhibition, he is drawing from characters and memories from within his community.
Henrik’s family immigrated to Denmark from Central Europe in the late 18th century and became one of the largest carnival and circus families in Scandinavia. His great-great-great-grandfather, Heinrich Christopher Hertzberg, after whom he is named, purchased a children's horse carousel in 1884, which is still owned by the family today. Back then, a large travelling community resided by Sømosen lake in the winter, just a few kilometres from Henrik’s current home and studio.
Henrik's grandmother, Alexandra Eleonora Vilhelmine Jakobsen, named Aunt Pylle, recounts the life of Heinrich Christopher Hertzberg and the time spent at Sømosen: 'I have never seen my great-grandparents, but I have heard a lot about them. During the summer, they travelled with their wagon. In the fall, they returned to Sømosen. My great-grandfather had planted fruit trees near the wagon. They are still there today. Down the hill, a spring with water flowed. I clearly remember drinking from the spring as a young child. Along the shores, my great-grandfather had found quite a bit of amber. He made a heavy necklace for my great-grandmother from it. It has since been passed down through the family.'
Heinrich Christopher Hertzberg’s daughter, Alexandra Vilhelmine Lovise Hertzberg, inherited the horse carousel from her father and continued the travelling life. She had two children - a son named Fernhein, and a daughter named Vilhelmine. Vilhelmine, also known as Aunt Minna, ended up owning one of Northern Europe's largest travelling fairs and variety tents. A large part of the family travelled with Vilhelmine, including Henrik’s grandparents and their children. Her fun fair featured various attractions such as shooting galleries, fair stalls, carousels, swings, and later even a death globe, which Henrik's aunt operated. In the variety tent, acrobats, fortune tellers, musicians, and animal performers with horse, bird, and monkey acts performed. One of the main attractions was a trained lion that brought both delight and fear.
Henrik's father, Benny Fernhein, recounts: 'We travelled with Aunt Minna's fun fair throughout my childhood until we got our own. It was hard physical work from morning to night. Occasionally, when we had a bit of free time, my father would walk the lion on a leash through the cities we visited - much to the amusement of the travellers but to the great fear of the townspeople. This eventually led to the lion's demise when complaints were made to the authorities, who prohibited us from travelling with lions in the future. In general, there were quite a few challenges with the live animals we travelled with back then. I remember as a big boy having to help my father retrieve a monkey that had climbed up the church tower in Frederikshavn. It attracted a lot of attention.'
With time, Henrik's grandparents got their own travelling fair, which Henrik's father later took over with his sister. Throughout Henrik's childhood and youth, he travelled in the summer months around Northern Europe with the fair alongside his parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles and aunts and cousins. In the winter, they restored the rides and prepared the attractions for the upcoming season. From a young age, he was an apprentice under his father and grandfather, renovating fairground façades and panels. “They taught me how to use a paintbrush and mix colours”, he would later say. At the age of 23, Henrik parted ways with the fair world to become an artist. However, the aesthetics of the fun fair are still very present in his visual vocabulary. He often references the geometrical patterns and colour schemes of the fairground façades directly. And, as he says, 'I am still a traveller.'
Please contact info@vigogallery.com for further information.
