Michelle Qiao
Shanghaidaily.com

With his long, silver hair, it's easy to assume this artist is a true demon. However, this is not the case. Hornsleth appears to be a very nice man, wearing blue sunglasses and a comfortable sports jacket.

"I'm a vegetarian and my wife is pregnant now, this will be my third baby," says Hornsleth, who has quit his architect job because of his "impatience" to be an artist/philosopher.

Hornsleth is a non-smoker and never drinks alcohol. He loves playing tennis and has a boat in his hometown of Copenhagen. As a 40-something man, he emphasizes the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. All in all, not only is he far removed from the life he's painted, he is much healthier than most.

"I use this method to wake up the public," says Hornsleth. "Art is not boring, it's intelligent entertainment. I want to arouse discussions."

Hornsleth has spent the last three weeks creating dozens of works for the Shanghai exhibition, utilizing pictures from Chinese magazines and even sketch books of art school students. He has had some of the shocking slogans translated into Chinese and wrote them himself in gigantic characters on his paintings.

His works are very colorful, shocking, ridiculous and funny. Several paintings are about classical art. There are also a few golden clay sculptures shaped like female genitalia.

"People don't expect to see this in classical paintings. It's like torture and it's very cynical," he says.

There are plenty of nude bodies scattered throughout his works.

"In my mind China is naked now, very vulnerable," he explains. "China could follow the American-style path or it could revert back to some half a century ago. Many girls want to be pop stars, but they have to pay the price for it. There's no solutions in my work, only complex ideas."

Most of his paintings are sprinkled with holes and sharp scratches.

"It makes the pictures three-dimensional and like sculptures," says Hornsleth, proudly touching a "scar" on his painting. "It makes the work more aggressive and more powerful, like an accident."

He notes that he feels powerless when wandering in luxury shops.

"They feel so empty, always too smooth," he says, showing a rainbow of glistening silver rings, earrings and neck laces, all are engraved with shocking slogans. "I want people to say 'pretty' first, and then be astonished."

He calls himself a "futilist." In his explanation, "futilism" is a method of boosting creativity. It's a method of taking something that appears to be without meaning and ending up with something meaningful, which is against the classical understanding that takes from something that has historical meaning.

"My work has been a journey through extremely diverse mental landscapes from the deepest hateful, depressive frustrations to blissful voyages of recognition, nearing the platform of consistency," he says. "I hope to be able to give you a small portion of the constructive self-criticism that I have experienced along the journey."

Hornsleth gives this exhibition a strange name "Just Be Rich" because he strongly believes buying his work will make the buyer a millionaire.

"Buy Hornsleth, hang it on your wall and wait 10 years. Today you are investing 10,000 euros (US$12,000), in 10 years it has a value of 500,000 euros," he says.

Actually Hornsleth had thought of naming the exhibition "Fuck You Art Lovers."

"There's so much terrible and boring art out there," he explains. "You easily waste your time. Be sharp and be critical. Trust your own taste and follow your heart. I paint with the blood of the soul and will continue to do so until I drop dead. Welcome to the temple where nothing is sacred. Truth is beauty."

Two radically contrasting paintings, one showing the body of a very old woman and the other a blooming young beauty, are highlights of the exhibition.

"What is time, what is human flesh?" Hornsleth says like a Buddhist. "So enjoy life now and don't make trouble because everybody will grow old in the end."

Alert visitors will see that this artist has put his family name, "Hornsleth" on all of his works, from paintings and jewelry to even his bleached jeans.

"The art business is always about names," he says. "When I was a kid, my parents took me to museums. They only cared about the names. People don't always look at the image."

Hornsleth will start another project this fall which is, in his words, "completely crazy."

He will pay a sum of US$100,000 to a village in Uganda, Africa, to improve their water system. In return the 100 villagers will change their names to Hornsleth. The whole process will be made into a documentary.

"It's a kind of demonstration about 'we want to help but we want to own you'," says Hornsleth. "It's ironic and about Western countries helping poor countries but wanting to decide what they are doing as a result. A true friend helps and doesn't ask about returns."

Hornsleth plans to exhibit his artworks later in Beijing and even open a restaurant fully decorated with his "crazy" artworks in Shanghai. He has already opened two, one in Copenhagen and another in Koln, Germany.

"I need to create a shock with a positive ending," he chuckles.

Date: through March 31, 11am-7pm

Address: 3/F, 713 Dongdaming Rd

Admission: Free

Tel: 3501-3212