Morten Plesner
Daydream Rituals
April 29 - May 27 2022
Artist talk: Thursday April 28. 18.00-19.00
Opening reception: Friday April 29. 17.00-20.00
Morten Plesner’s solo exhibition Daydream Rituals at Bricks Gallery reveals new and complex layers of the meaning of artistic method and intend. While the contrast between the controlled and the random, the soft and the wild, and the primordial and the futuristic have always been at the core of Plesner’s artistic practice, the introduction of new materials such as lasers, papyrus, drum cymbals, and sound open up new spiritual and sensory horizons in his work.
The exhibition title, Daydream Rituals, points to Plesner’s artistic method as well as the works themselves. Plesner’s creative process is characterised by a continuous dialogue between the very concrete, repetitive, and intentional dimension of the ritual and the more intangible, ephemeral and unplanned energy of the daydream. Simultaneously, the new series of works seem to also hint at more mythological and fictional aspects, with materials, compositions and sound referencing spiritual practises, iconography, and pre-cultural aesthetics. One example of this is seen in Plesner’s laser series, Median Figure where pieces of Egyptian papyrus provide the canvas for symmetrical cyanotype drawings made from blue spectrum of a programmed laser beam. And in the Knotweed structure , two clay sculptures suggest a temple-like structure topped with drum cymbals, almost resembling a gong. Visitors are invited to strike the cymbals, and the resulting sound, combined with the recording of the metallic sound of cooling clay form the firings, gives the work itself an almost ceremonial character - and reminds one of the inherent healing capacities of music.
Daydream Rituals encompasses a list of newly produced works, including wall hung porcelain sculptures, floor-based capillary clay sculptures, and cyanotype laser prints.
Morten Plesner (b. 1979) has a background in graffiti and is educated as a scenic painter at the Royal Danish Theatre in 2004. Between 2008-2012, he collaborated with Christian Elovara Dinesen in the artist duo Ultra Grøn with exhibitions at Charlottenborg Kunsthal, KØS - Museum for Kunst i Det Offentlige Rum, Galleri Christoffer Egelund and as well as various projects in the public space. As a solo artist, he has exhibited at Bricks Gallery, Ringsted Galleriet, MOHS Gallery, Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling at Den Frie Udstillingsbygning and Forårsudstillingen at Charlottenborg Kunsthal.
Daydream Rituals is Plesners second solo show at Bricks Gallery.
