Documentation by David Stjernholm
Signe Ralkov’s graduation work is inspired by a brief moment captured in a video she recorded on coronation day from her studio window, which faces Kongens Nytorv. The subject portrayed in the video is Frederik X, then newly crowned King of Denmark. Painting from a video still, she slowly reconstitutes the split-second when the King passed by in his carriage.
Frederik X is presented here in ambiguity, indiscernible to us, a stark contrast to the hyper-visibility of Denmark’s most public figure on his most important day. Ralkov blurs his likeness through materially rich and imposing hues that overtake figuration and command the painting. One painting stands monumental in scale, while the other is smaller, perhaps zoomed out. As the works move from desaturated colors into deeper red pigments, our eyes no longer attempt to make out a form, and we surrender to the interplay of visibility and opacity.
Drawing on the allure of performative personas, the paintings question not only the portrayal of power but also its consumption – how images circulate, decorate and critique simultaneously. With a keen sensitivity to the language of painting itself, Ralkov continues the line of interrogation present in her previous works of our collective image production, this time presenting an unsettling yet compelling reflection on power structures.
Flash and Flicker, 2025
Oil on canvas
150 x 200 cm
Coronation Day, POV, 2025
Oil on canvas
64 x 80 cm
Signe Ralkov (b.1997) is based in Copenhagen. Her work explores the interplay of consumption and intimacy through reiterative motifs and symbolic compositions. She reflects on the autonomy and circulation of images, revealing the abstraction of their unpredictability and temporality.
