PARALLEL ART FOUNDATION
Ditte Marie Frost [DK]
Father’s Three Hands
2026, 09 04—10 14
PUCCS Contemporary, Budapest
The installation Father’s Three Hands revolves around themes of trust, power dynamics, and manipulation, as well as societal imbalances and darker sides. Additionally, the work explores impermanence in both material and organic contexts. The visual expression of the piece draws from human anatomy, with the artist's specific inspiration stemming from educational anatomical charts of hands.
The artwork consists of three free-hanging surfaces sewn together from textiles and shaped like three hands. Measuring 250 cm each, the three pieces are suspended from the ceiling by metal chains.
Father’s Three Hands is crafted from coarse and fine linen, silk, and tulle. The nearly transparent silk and tulle stand in sharp contrast to the rough linen. The textiles have been treated using a graphic technique where patinated copper creates a turquoise print on the fabric. Furthermore, the linen has been colored using metal water and imprint from chains, leaving the material with deep brown shades. The combination of the textile's texture and the metal's patina creates a visual effect that evokes the decay of the body, exposing flesh and bone through the process of decomposition.
The title Father’s Three Hands refers to the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In this installation, however, the hands take on a different meaning. They do not point toward harmony, but toward a world marked by unrest and inequality. Two of the hands form a pair, while the third stands apart, suggesting something uncontrollable and disruptive. The focus shifts from the divine to the primal and fragile aspects of human nature—the sides we cannot always control, such as violence, betrayal, hidden intentions, and paralysis.
In her practice, Ditte Marie Frost takes her point of departure in the subconscious and the obscured aspects of our world, where everything is in constant flux. Frost works across the mediums of installation, sculpture, and painting, using materials such as oxidized copper, steel, brass, iron, oil paint, and textiles.
In her works, Frost combines sculptural elements made from various metals and textiles. The textiles are bleached and patinated by oxidized metals through a specialized technique. Frost is drawn to the utilization of chemical processes, as they leave an expression in the works that balances between the uncontrollable and the predictable. The patination and corrosion processes used in Frost’s works reflect one of the overarching themes in her practice: impermanence and transformation.
Frost’s motifs draw from insects, weapons, and human and animal bodies. By combining bodily figurations with oxidized metals, she creates a space that oscillates between destruction and creation. For her motifs, Frost finds inspiration in alchemy, religion, and film—particularly genres such as horror, sci-fi, and body horror. In her artistic practice, Frost is furthermore inspired by Julia Kristeva's and Carl Jung's ideas on consciousness.
Ditte Marie Frost is a Danish visual artist (born 1992) who graduated from Funen Art Academy in Odense (2015-2020), which included an exchange program at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (2018-2019). In 2022 she had her first institutional solo exhibition at Platform in Nikolaj Kunsthal. Additionally, her work has been exhibited in the Round Tower in Copenhagen and at Cantina in Aarhus, among other venues.
[photo: Mikkel Kaldal]
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On view 0-24h
PUCCS Contemporary Art, 1084 Budapest, Víg u. 22.
Curator: Gábor Pintér
Supported by Hungarian Academy of Arts, Statens Kunstfond (Danish Arts Foundation), Kulturudviklingspuljen (Cultural Development Fund - Aarhus)
