Absolute Elsewhere

Interview with Angela Gram

Can Jurassic Park become reality? Angela Gram urges us to open our eyes in her most political exhibition yet

Angela Gram has just opened her fourth solo exhibition at Gallery Poulsen in Copenhagen. Absolute Elsewhere is, as she herself says, “probably the most political show I’ve done so far.”

“The works include events happening all over the world, especially in the US. In that way, they reflect the global nature of what I’m working with, so the title feels fitting,” Angela Gram explains.

In the exhibition, wild animals appear in vastly different landscapes, all charged with tension: genetic engineering experiments, war zones, and climate impact on the environment. Rather than depicting the human figure, Gram consistently turns to animals as carriers of meaning.  

“The subject of animals has a history of hundreds of years of symbolism,” she explains. “I’ve always been interested in that, and using that as a narrative vehicle as opposed to the human figure. Because I think in some ways, animals can be more specific, depending on the context. So they can also be more symbolic. The figure, if I was representing it, would be maybe more literal.”

Her interest in symbolism has led her to study the subject in depth.  “I’ve studied it on my own. If you’re gonna represent something, you should be informed. And it’s something I’m genuinely interested in and just over time accumulated more.” she says.

One painting with an eagle and a snake fighting on a vivid orange background illustrates her approach clearly. The motif carries several layers of symbolism but also refers to a specific American historical image: the segmented snake from Benjamin Franklin’s Join or Die illustration from 1754, where each snake part represented the American colonies and the need for unity during the American Revolution.  

“The eagle is an American eagle,” she explains. “It can symbolize the government versus the people, and that was my idea with this very political painting.”

Even without knowing the reference, the image remains open.

“The eagle and the snake is kind of like a representation of two opposing forces in conflict with each other. That would be the most general takeaway.”

That balance between specificity and openness runs throughout the exhibition. Gram is careful not to dictate meaning.

“If I make a piece that is more overtly political, I have my own motivations behind it, but I also want the viewer to be able to impose their own interpretation of it. So the painting itself looks politically neutral, more or less. That was my goal.”

Her working process is focused and methodical.

“I can only do one painting at a time. The concepts arise individually for each work.” Angela says she starts with small thumbnail sketches, collects reference material when needed, but most animals are invented, and the landscapes combine both research and imagination.

Earlier, she worked more with mythological figures and art historical references. This exhibition marks a shift.  

“The mythological figures came about because I was very interested in art history and how I could integrate symbolism into my own work. With this exhibition, I feel it’s the most contemporary relevant I’ve ever done. The works are more realistic and contemporary in the way that they don’t look so much backward,” she says.

Reality itself, she suggests, has become wilder than fiction. Perhaps that is why the need for mythical figures is less. 

“The fiction is becoming reality. Definitely for that piece with the wolves. What that company is doing - it’s literally the plot to Jurassic Park. I just thought that was absolutely fascinating.”

The painting she refers to, Romulus and Remus, takes inspiration from the American genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences, which in 2025 announced it had recreated the extinct dire wolf using gene editing and 10,000-year-old DNA samples. The DNA profile was incomplete, so the animals were created with a mixture of dire wolf, modern grey wolf, and domestic dog genes. In Gram’s painting, the wolves appear larger and more robust. They have dense white fur and appear almost mythical compared to what we know. There is also a strip of caution tape winding through the painting.  

“The caution tape is like putting some commentary into the painting. Be careful what you do.” she says.

Originally, the warning was specifically aimed at this project, which Romulus and Remus concerns.  “ But of course that can be extrapolated out into AI or other technology whose consequences we don’t know.” The work becomes a meditation on technological ambition and human hubris - a contemporary myth unfolding in real time - not unlike the opening scenario of Jurassic Park.

Who pays the price?

War and geopolitical conflict form another layer of the exhibition. In Bear Skull, Gram uses the sunflower - Ukraine’s national flower - as both subject and symbol.

“The blue background and the yellow sunflowers represent the Ukrainian flag,” she explains. “Someone might just think that it’s pretty sunflowers to put in your house. But there’s this deeper subtext.”

On the ground under the blooming sunflowers lies a bear skull.  

“My original thought was that it is a symbol of humanity. Especially in the US, the bear is symbolic of Russia. I don’t know if that’s everywhere. But there are also bears in Ukraine.”

The ambiguity is intentional; it is unclear which bear has fallen, raising the question: Who are the real victims in the power struggles of the great powers?

Gram remembers when the war began.

“The imagery just spread through social media. You would see missiles flying overhead and it was very alarming. And the fact that it’s not over yet — it’s still present. It’s in people’s minds.”

Another powerful work in the exhibition, Olive Branch, reflects on the fragile possibility of peace.  

“How many wars are there right now?” Angela asks with a look that clearly shows she thinks there are far too many. “ That piece is kind of on the line. It’s maybe the most direct commentary and also maybe the most symbolic piece, because it can be applied to conflict resolution — or lack of resolution — in so many different situations.”

Environmental instability is a recurring theme in the exhibition. The title work, Absolute Elsewhere, shows a polar bear in the jungle - an absurd placement that immediately evokes thoughts of climate change. Arctic sea ice, which polar bears depend on, is melting at an unprecedented rate. Still, biologists have observed that some bears adapt by changing their diet and in some cases genetically metabolizing new food sources.

Angela is genuinely fascinated by this evolution, which is not about extinction but adaptation.  “The polar bear is quite interesting because it’s actually adapting in some way, which surprises me,” she says.

The interpretation is open: In the painting, the polar bear seems to thrive in the jungle. But the question remains - are climate changes good at all? What is it that humans have set in motion?

As an American artist living in New York, Gram feels the political climate directly.  

“The political climate in the US, especially during the Trump administration, affects my life directly. They removed healthcare subsidies, so basically I have to pay more. And I know many people who are not citizens, and they are very worried about what they can say. They don’t post political opinions, for example,” Angela Gram says, continuing: “If you become very open about your political opinions online, especially if you’re against the administration, you can be flagged and end up on a list somehow.”

Still, the political element in her work is nothing new:

“There has always been some political thread in my work, maybe not in every painting. But it’s something I’ve consistently been interested in. I don’t necessarily feel that art needs that component, but for me, I just want to be aware of these things, and that naturally becomes part of my work. My work is an expression of that interest.”

The exhibition moves between reflection and immediacy.  “Given what’s going on in the world, I wanted it to be a reflection of what’s happening. It’s an opportunity to really explore that. And in a way, that’s kind of what art is for.”

There is no prescribed message in Absolute Elsewhere, only an opportunity to see and reflect.

“If Absolute Elsewhere could be distilled to one feeling?” Angela Gram repeats the question. “Attention. Here is an opportunity to direct your attention to this or that idea and then interpret it however you want.”

She pauses.

“I’m presenting the material and I’m just saying, this is here. Maybe you take a minute and be aware. And then have your own opinion. I wanted to stay neutral. It’s neither positive nor negative.”

Angela Gram Solo Show: Absolute Elsewhere

27 February - 28 March 2026

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

- Charles Darwin

Human beings have always moved toward the impossible. We have crossed oceans, climbed Mount Everest, raced to reach the poles first, and sent humans to the moon. Not because it was necessary, but because it was possible. It is in our nature to push boundaries and challenge what seems impossible.

Today we see the same drive in the attempt to bring extinct species back to life. The question is why. Is it the pursuit of progress, of legacy, or the desire to overcome the finality of time and, ultimately, to defy death itself?

Absolute Elsewhere is Angela Gram’s fourth solo exhibition at Gallery Poulsen. In this new series of paintings, she explores some of the most radical scientific experiments of our time, shifting global power structures, and climate change, expressed through the symbolic language of nature and wild animals.

Throughout her career, Angela Gram has explored the tension between fiction and reality, the natural world and the human-made, the past and the future. She repeatedly returns to questions about how our reality changes, how ecosystems shift, and how species disappear. Her paintings have served as a form of documentation of endangered species, showing images of life that future generations may never see.

Now we live in a time when reality overtakes fiction. Extinct species can be brought back through biotechnological interventions. What is recreated is not always a return to the original, but rather a curation of life. When DNA is incomplete and must be supplemented, hybrids emerge that appear almost mythological – larger, stronger beings from a time we have never experienced.

Just because we can, does it mean we should? If we can control evolution, can we also try to control our own mortality and achieve eternal life?

The same drive that makes us bring back extinct species also pushes nations to war, ideologies into conflict, and civilization to reshape the planet’s climate. In a world marked by war in Europe, fragile peace negotiations, and shifting ecosystems, the question of cost and responsibility becomes more urgent. Who pays for progress? And what happens when the balance of nature is disrupted faster than it can recover?

Absolute Elsewhere unfolds in this tension. The exhibition examines the limits of human intervention. Just because we can, does not mean we should. What is the cost of our drive toward the impossible – for nature, for animals, and for our civilization? When we push the limits of evolution, war, and climate, we must ask who pays the price.

Do we still need to protect nature if we can recreate it? What does it mean to be able to create and take life? And is what we call recreation really a reconstruction?

At the same time, rapid technological development pushes what was once myth or fiction into reality. If we can bring back the extinct, what limits should we set? Could we one day create something that has never existed, such as unicorns, or bring back predators from the past like in Jurassic Park?

Absolute Elsewhere asks how far we can go and what the cost of our curiosity, ambition, and desire for control is for both nature and ourselves.

The exhibition presents 10 new oil paintings by Angela Gram.
Opening reception Friday, February 27, 5:00–7:00 PM
Gallery Poulsen, Staldgade 32, Copenhagen
For more information, contact: [email protected] | +45 33 33 93 96