Current exhibition: Ome, Belmacz Gallery, London, 14 Feb – 14 April 2018

‘Can a painting capture a moment in time before the moment dissolves?’

This contemplative quote serves to introduce Morten Skrøder Lund’s second solo exhibition at London’s Belmacz Gallery. Its reflective tone mirrors Lund’s practise.

Lund’s canvases are awash with colour, their amorphous forms distort the boundaries between the figurative and the abstract. By navigating the perimeters of these supposedly contradictory perspectives, Lund challenges the viewer to look differently. The visual cues that one relies on to assess the aesthetics of art become obscured by the uniqueness of Lund’s style.

Lund’s paintings contradict what John Berger called a ‘series of learnt assumptions’ that tend to preoccupy people’s judgment of art.

Morten Skrøder Lund, Untitled, 2016. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy artist and gallery.

Not only does his diverse array of expressive paintings evade the narrowing limitations of simplistic stylistic classification, they provide a space for open introspection.

Lund works periodically. He will often leave his canvas untouched for long periods of time. Then, following a flurry of activity, his studio will transform into a laboratory of play, of instinctive spontaneity; ‘a place where,’ according to the exhibition’s press release, ‘transgression is documented in terms of a magnified microcosm.’

Morten Skrøder Lund, Untitled, 2016. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy artist and gallery.

Sharing the exhibition space with Lund are works by Carl Buchheister (1890 – 1964). Buchheister was noted for his multiple series of ‘model paintings’ during the interwar years. He flirted with avantgarde movements such as Dada, Bauhaus, De Stijl and Constructivism, as well as instigated the introduction of materials like acrylic glass and aluminum to the flat surfaces of painting. Ome investigates the rhythmic qualities abundant in the work of both artists.

Bio

Morten Skrøder Lund lives and works in Berlin. Selected exhibitions include: 2017, IF YOU DON’T LIKE ART, GOODBYE, FUCK OFF, GO-HOME…, Nordic Contemporary Art Collection, NoCo, Vestfossen. Becoming Zero, Galleri Flach, Stockholm. Yey, an unusual way of spelling yay, Jir Sandel, Los Angeles. 2016, Mustang, Ltd. Los Angeles. 2015, Lyst, Christian Andersen, Copenhagen. Group Show V, Alexander Levy, Berlin. 2014,Wellbound, Belmacz, London. CircusTM, Belmacz, London. 2013, Hang, Christian Andersen, Copenhagen. il monaco, Ringsted Galleriet, Ringsted. 2012, Ibur, w. Jonas Jensen, NoMad, Frankfurt. 2011, Master, Christian Andersen, Copenhagen. 2010, Such a Short Memorial Form, Phonebos IMO, Copenhagen. 2003–09 MFA, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Professor Tumi Magnusson

Quote from John Berger, Ways of Seeing, Penguin (1972).

Author: George Greenhill

Cover image: Morten Skrøder Lund, Untitled, 2016. Oil, pencil and gesso on canvas. Image courtesy artist and gallery.