As a painter, Anna Munk builds up layered surfaces and historical quotations much like sculpting figures, while working through questions of aging versus appearance, decay versus density, make-up versus still life.
Working towards her first grand solo exhibition, premiering at O—Overgaden in late autumn 2025, Munk blows up 19C still life paintings found in storage catalogues of grand museum collections, turning these into a series of new billboard-sized canvases. Thriving on feminist undertones, the motifs are partly contoured from a palette of eyeshadow, highlighter, lip gloss, and foundation. The classical painterly creation and capture of a moment of beauty of, for instance, the fruit in the still life—and its imminent, haunting threat of decay—are thus mirrored in today’s omnipresent libidinous economy of the fresh face and painted (faux) appearance.
Anna Munk (b. 1994, DK) is a graduate of the Royal Danish Art Academy (2022) and lives and works in Copenhagen. Her upcoming solo exhibition at O—Overgaden marks the culmination of her participation in the one-year postgraduate program, INTRO 2025, supported generously by the Louis-Hansen Foundation. Munk has previously exhibited at venues including Atelier W Pantin, Paris (2024); Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, Copenhagen (2023); Tørreloft AGA Works, Copenhagen (2022); Møstings, Frederiksberg (2022); and Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2022).
Photo: Anna Munk Cosmetic Corpse, 2024. Oil, cosmetics and wax on felt, 122.1 x 142 cm