Bricks Gallery proudly presents Rammet Af Solen, a solo exhibition by Jakob Steen, consisting of a series of new paintings, a glass sculpture and a publication.
In this new body of work, Steen is preceding experiences through numerous watercolor sketches which have been accumulated in the course of his life. These function as an archive of recollections, visualizing impressions of his surroundings at a moment in time. The sketches are an essential part of his process, boiling down momentarily captured memories into a sensuous idiom.
The title Rammet af Solen (translates: Framed by The Sun) refers to the way in which the sun as an effect both lights up, but simultaneously casts a shadow. Through this analogy, Steen portrays his own personal story. Since the artist’s childhood, encounters with the sun have been a fascination of his, which later in life drew him to move and reside in the Carribean. Here the sun was explored through its effect on culture, and the perception of what it casts its light upon. The sun thereby figures as a specific presence in the artist’s praxis and results in a synthesis of colour on his canvas, steered by visualized memories. Jakob Steen’s work is found in a space between the figurative and abstract painting, where contact is established between the physical realm and a cosmic energy, embedded in his work.
It is the first time Jakob introduces a spatial element into an exhibition, by exhibiting a glass sculpture alongside his paintings. This work references the principle of the prism, summing up Goethe’s teachings regarding color theory, illustrating how colors only appear where light and darkness are simultaneously present. As an embodiment of the exhibition’s processual approach, a publication with the same title as the exhibition is also presented. The publication includes evocative photographs from the artist’s life, studio, memories from the Carribean and a selection of the countless watercolors painted on his path.
Jakob Steen born 1986 in Cambridge, England, lives and works in Præstø, Denmark. He is an experimenting visual artist working across multiple disciplines and media.
