Friday December 3rd, Hans Alf Gallery invites everyone to join the opening of the last two exhibitions of the year: Louise Hindsgavl’s “The World Ajar” in the main gallery and Anders Brinch’s “Café Malmø” in our project room.

Cafe Malmø, which is the title of Anders Brinch’s new show, is a real place: a dive bar situated only a stone’s throw from Hans Alf Gallery in a basement below Havnegade 35. Café Malmø is a legendary bar that has been around since the 1870’s, which makes it one of the oldest in Copenhagen. In olden days, it was a seamen’s hangout. Because of that, a certain maritime atmosphere permeates the café, just as an enormous collection of peculiar bottle openers from around the globe adorn the walls and the ceiling above the bar – a result of the exotic travels of old regulars through the years.

Anders Brinch has been a regular at Café Malmø for many years. He particularly loves the atmosphere and the clientele, and he has always been deeply fascinated by the eclectic decor. On numerous occasions, Brinch has channeled the bar in his paintings, which has resulted in a vast series of Café Malmø paintings, where raw, hedonistic drinking culture meets flimsy poetry in what has been dubbed magical social realism. In his new exhibition, we find the biggest installment yet – an imposing painting of two by three meters – but all the works in the show somehow spring from the inexhaustible fountain of inspiration that sits in this innocuous basement in Havnegade.

The largest painting was commissioned by filmmakers Camilla Arlien and Ida Mathilde Karlsson, who have been working on a documentary about the iconic bar for nearly a year. While following the regulars and the proprietor Ole, the team has also documented the making of the painting from the first to the final brushstroke as an integral part of both the movie and the tribute to Café Malmø.

The opening of the show also marks the 50th birthday of Anders Brinch.