The Spring Show

With broken hearts we stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and for the defence of fundamental human rights.

We considered canceling this exhibition, as it seemed unconceivable to continue showing art in the actual context.

Instead, we’ve chosen to use this opportunity to actively support those hit by this tragedy. The gallery’s profits from this exhibition will be entirely donated to UNHCR The UN Refugees Agency.

We pray for peace.

"Having been devoted to a dripping method from 2009 through to 2016, during which my paintings were purely poured lines, my work has in recent years taken a new direction, developing into collage-works with a flickering optical character.

The collage form actually originated from some left over dripping-paintings on paper, which I cut into thin strips and glued back together. By thus breaking down my painting, it somehow re-invented itself in a new form. 

Like many artists, it is the process which drives me, and here time is an important factor. My collage-paintings are slow, and it is precisely this slowness which mesmerizes me; spending endless moments of time inside the on-going artwork, absorbed in each colour and tiny detail, yet aiming for that magical moment where I switch from being the maker to being the viewer – then the artist can step back, and the painting simply takes over."

Maibritt Ulvedal Bjelke, February 2020

Topics which Tünde Újszászi is exploring in her oeuvre are the illusion of permanence and the ever-changing nature of all our surroundings, which she examines through large-scale, woven installations and series of paintings. Újszászi’s primary inspiration is the material itself and the possibilities it beholds. She is particularly intrigued by the process of creating forms and objects and the way in which these pieces occupy the space. Her installation works, through the use of special weaving techniques and small canvas foldings, express the desire to preserve and to stop time, as a way to overcome her fears of the unknown and passing away.
 

« Horizontality, as in my paintings, is an indication of how we want to see the world and create order – we stand up as vertical and see the environment as horizontal. It creates balance. » (Lars Strandh)

For more than twenty years Lars Strandh has been investigating a limited range of colours in his seemingly monochromatic paintings. His works are in fact not made of one single colour, but rather by thousands of fine and slowly hand-traced horizontal brush strokes. Each painting is dedicated to one colour and appears as a solid colour field from distance, while revealing, at a closer look, all the different colours, pigments and hues, matt and glossy surfaces which compose it and make it vibrant and unique.
Time is a fundamental element in Strandh’s patient and meticulous work. Slowness is inherent to his creative process and necessary to the viewer as well, in order to fully experience the works. What may seem simple in these paintings bears a complexity which is quietly revealed, invites contemplation and engages reflection.

At first glance the paintings of Shawn Stipling appear almost machine made, the precision of the lines and seemingly industrial surfaces belie their intensely hand made production. But looking more closely, beyond these initial impressions, we start to see that all is not as we first thought. The measurements are ‘off’ – more random than mathematical, elements are sometimes slightly skewed, lines do not meet edges where we somehow feel they should. We are being asked to look more closely, to slow down, to step forward, and in doing so, we begin to see the true identity of these works emerge.

Rebecca Salter PRA has received international acclaim for her paintings and printmaking. While living in Japan for many years, Salter studied traditional Japanese woodblock printing and she combines this interest with her main practice in painting.

"An organizing principle underlies my work but is disrupted by the serendipity of the process of making/drawing/painting. The trace of the human hand is paramount and its presence energises the surface, subtly disturbing an underlying calm but providing an opportunity to linger and explore. The work asks for time, and rewards with an opportunity for inner reflection."

Rebecca Salter

Gwen Hardie’s work appears as abstraction in its purest form, until one knows more about the process which leads to these meditative and ethereal fields of colour. Hardie takes inspiration from people and the infinite variations of the human skin, its colour and the glow which radiates from it. Each painting creates an illusion of shifting depths of field between a dominant foreground color and a background color. Finely tuned gradients of tone and saturation levels create a subtle impression of movement between human presence and atmosphere. Evolving from studies of the live model and research into color, Gwen Hardie’s art explores a fascinating terrain between figuration and abstraction.