A sculpture of a human figure with a painted body. The figure is wearing a pink cloth on its head, and has purple earrings hanging from its ears. It is dressed in a colorful outfit.

Francis Upritchard, Any Noise Annoys an Oyster, 28 September 2024 – 16 February 2025

This autumn, Kunsthal Charlottenborg presents a solo exhibition with New Zealand-born sculptor Francis Upritchard. Presenting more than 100 works, this comprehensive exhibition creates a space somewhere between ideas of our past and visions for a future.

Upritchard works in a field where visual art and craft intersect. Her art takes on many different formats, ranging from large-scale figurative sculptures to ceramics, blown glass vases, jewellery and diminutive beings.

References in her work include ancient art, Asian folklore, 20^th century European sculpture and science fiction literature as she investigates how the past is perceived today and what the future might look like. Among the exhibited works are sculptures embodying mythical and fantastic figures such as the centaur, the dinosaur and the mermaid, made in bronze as well as balata, a natural rubber from Brazil.

At Kunsthal Charlottenborg, these beings will be accompanied by a large collection of the artist’s miniature sculptures and a group of eccentric figures dressed in colourful clothes. As an ensemble Upritchard’s works escape established norms and create a kaleidoscopic narrative, which offers the opportunity to contemplate different facets of the human condition.

Francis Upritchard was born in 1976 in New Plymouth, New Zealand and lives and works in London and New Zealand. Throughout her career, Upritchard has gained international recognition for her striking and original visual language. She has participated in a large number of exhibitions around the world and has represented her home country at the Venice Biennale, collaborated with renowned British fashion duo Peter Pilotto, and in 2022 she created an epic, permanent outdoor sculptural work for the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.

Any Noise Annoys an Oyster is curated by Henriette Bretton-Meyer.

The exhibition is supported by the Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen’s Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation, the Danish Art Foundation, the Knud Højgaard’s Foundation, the Obel Family Foundation, the William Demant Foundation.

In a bright exhibition room, where five dinosaur sculptures are placed on top of each other. The sculptures are on a pedestal with four metal legs.

Two sculptures of human miniature figures placed on their own pedestals. Both with painted faces looking in different directions. The sculptures are dressed in various colorful clothing.

Table with various sculptures and vases, in different sizes.

Installation images

Show images

Francis Upritchard, Cat Queen, 2020. Steel and foil armature, acrylic padding, paint, modelling material, fabric, leather, crystals, earrings, 100 x 40 x 30 cm. Photo by Angus Mill. Courtesy of the artist and Kate McGarry.

Francis Upritchard, Polite Friend, 2024. Modelling material, foil, wire, paint, cloth, 112 x 34 x 30 cm. Photo by Angus Mill. Courtesy of the artist and Kate McGarry.

Francis Upritchard, Any Noise Annoys an Oyster, 2024. Balata rubber, armature, 110 x 118 x 66 cm. Photo by Angus Mill. Courtesy of the artist and Kate McGarry.

Francis Upritchard, Two Tooth, Long Tooth, 2022. Balata rubber, 60 x 25 x 29 cm. Photo by Angus Mill. Courtesy of the artist and Kate McGarry.

Francis Upritchard, Medusa, 2024. Balata rubber, steel, travatine, 48.5 x 25 x 15 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Kate McGarry.

Francis Upritchard, Giocometti Looters, 2024. Balata rubber, M8 steel in legs, 104 x 40 x 39 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Kate McGarry.

Francis Upritchard, Sydney Scallop, 2023, exhibition view, Fine Arts, Sydney. Courtesy of the artist and Fine Arts, Sydney.

Francis Upritchard, Sticking Out Ears, 2024. Fabric, padding, 35 x 40 x 6 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Kate McGarry