FOOL: Esben Weile Kjær

11 February - 9 April 2026
  • Albion Jeune is pleased to present a solo exhibition of five stained-glass works and an inflatable sculpture by Esben Weile...
    Albion Jeune is pleased to present a solo exhibition of five stained-glass works and an inflatable sculpture by Esben Weile Kjær (b. 1992, Copenhagen). The exhibition explores contemporary desires and preoccupations through the lens of medieval culture, both materially and thematically. Kjær seamlessly adopts longstanding visual and material traditions for an uncannily prescient purpose, commenting on the present-day fascination with Gothic aesthetics.   
     
    FOOL features five stained-glass works alongside one inflatable sculpture, all on public display for the first time. This solo show marks the first repeat exhibition at Albion Jeune since Kjær inaugurated the gallery with his exhibition I Want to Believe in 2023. He is returning with an entirely new body of stained glass and inflatable sculpture. Kjær’s works explore selfhood by looking back at historical forms of celebration. The acts of emotional expression in each of Kjær's stained-glass works, though depicting imagined figures in historical dress, are immediately poignant to the contemporary viewer. Each of these scenes is influenced by Kjær’s training and practice in performance art.   
  • The works presented in FOOL demonstrate the evolution of Kjær’s intricate use of stained glass. Many of the figures in...
    The works presented in FOOL demonstrate the evolution of Kjær’s intricate use of stained glass. Many of the figures in his new body of works are mirrors, inviting the viewer to look through the figures and back at themselves, catching fragments of their own image in the forms. As a result, Kjær's new stained-glass panels deepen his exploration of identity while inviting the viewer to interact playfully with each of the works. The concentric compositions of several of Kjær's new stained-glass works draw the viewer’s eye inward, encouraging them to get lost in the reverie unfolding in each scene. Through the play between composition and materiality, Kjær's new stained-glass pieces allow the viewer to conjure thoughts of a fantasy that they are literally able to see themselves in.   
     

    Alongside these stained-glass works, Kjær presents an inflatable dragon sculpture. The sheer velvet surface of the work is reminiscent of a camera flash or a photographer’s reflector. The otherworldly sculpture appears like a hallucination, its textured surface catching and scattering light in ways that heighten spatial awareness and cultivate a richly sensorial experience. Kjær drags the medieval folkloric motif of the dragon into the present day, commenting on the all-encompassing nature of the technological monster, the digital revolution. The inflatable dragon serves as an indication of how digital representations of the self, despite all the surface level glamour, are perennially searching for something unreal, fantastical, and non-existent.  

     

    This exhibition opens at a period of great significance for Kjær, with numerous forthcoming institutional exhibitions in 2026.    

  • Esben Weile Kjær (b. 1992, Copenhagen) graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2022, having previously completed...

    Esben Weile Kjær (b. 1992, Copenhagen) graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2022, having previously completed his studies in Music Management at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen. Interested in identity politics in the age of constantly evolving new media, his performance, installation, and stained-glass work examines his generation’s construction of selfhood and the rise of popular culture and technology in determining one’s experience of community and authenticity. Though the artist lives in Denmark, his practice is heavily informed by the notion of “The American Dream.” His curiosity is sparked by theme parks, toys-as-branding, and the complete consumerist meltdown in the West.  

     

    Kjær has performed at Amant, Brooklyn (2025); Museum Der Moderne, Salzburg (2024); MUMOK, Vienna (2023); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2022); Tinguely Museum, Basel (2022); New Carlsberg Foundation, Copenhagen (2022) and National Gallery of Denmark (2019), amongst others. Solo exhibitions have been held at numerous institutions, including at Rønnebæksholm, Næstved (2025); Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg (2025); Rudolph Tegners Museum and Statue Park, Dronningmølle (2025); Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg (2024); Albion Jeune, London (2023); Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde (2020); Copenhagen Contemporary (2020); and Kunstforening GL Strand, Copenhagen (2020). In 2023, Kjær was invited to curate the ARKEN Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection and to perform BUTTERFLY! for which Kjær was awarded the Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Foundation Talent Award. His work is in the permanent collection of ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; Malmö Art Museum, Sweden; Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg; the National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen; and Brandts Museum, Denmark.

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  • Selected works

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