Pearls, Bombs & Moonjars

EXHIBITION
Morten Løbner Espersen
PEARLS, BOMBS & MOON JARS
March 6 – May 3, 2020
Opening Friday, March 6, 6 – 9 pm
BRUTTO GUSTO FINE ARTS
Torstraße 175 D 10115 Berlin Germany
Opening hours: Monday – Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm _
Brutto Gusto is pleased to present Pearls, Bombs & Moon Jars, the fourth solo exhibition by Morten Løbner Espersen in Berlin. The Danish ceramicist will showcase a selection of vessel- like sculptures produced between 2018 and 2019. The pieces were produced in three distinct dimensions, hence the exhibition title. Most of the pieces are made for this exhibition, but some of the works were previously exhibited at The Hjorts Fabrik, Bornholms Ceramic Museum in Rønne Dk.
The vessel is his object of choice, in this case the perfectly controlled spherical shape – an hommage on the traditional sublime Korean Moon Jars. Dating back to the fifteenth century, they were made customarily to contain flowers or wine, but they are also ritual, votive vessels. Nevertheless, the form is not exactly the artist’s main concern. Everything comes down to the surface treatment, immediately relocating the works to another time and place. The glaze is not a mere finish, but is promoted to materiality and painting at the same time, swallowing the original contour of the ceramics, erupting in layers of intense polychrome and thick vitreous matter.
Morten Løbner Espersen deliberately challenges the boundaries of refined craftsmanship and serendipity when it comes to glazing processes. The richness he strives for relies upon the use of gravity and the melting together of the many layers, requiring repeated firing rounds for each piece. To attain balance, he has to control chaos, but also eventually give way to madness. The result is a landscape filled with deep nuances and an exploration of the known and the unknown.
In one hand Pearls, Bombs & Moon Jars pays tribute to the sphere embedded in pottery history, but on the other explodes all notions of conventional categories and sophisticated aesthetic theories. Espersen evolves ceramic tradition in crusts of freshly poured warm candy, still wet and dripping, deliciously appealing to the senses.
MORTEN LØBNER ESPERSEN
Morten Løbner Espersen (born 1965) graduated from the Danish Design School in Copenhagen and the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués, Duperré in Paris. He lives and works in Copenhagen and London. Among a series of grants and prices he has received the Danish Art Foundation’s three-year grant, and in 2018 been awarded the Annie and Otto Johs. Detlef’s Ceramic Price. Among his most recent solo shows are: Brutto Gusto (Berlin 2017), Jason Jacques Gallery (New York 2016), Pierre Marie Giraud (Bruxelles 2014) and the Trapholt Art Museum (2012).
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020 Brutto Gusto, Berlin, Germany Jason Jacques Gallery, New York
2019 Morten Avlskarl Gallery, Copenhagen Pierre Marie Giraud, Bruxelles
Bornholm Ceramic Museum, Hjorths Fabrik, Rønne 2017 Brutto Gusto, Berlin, Germany
2016 Jason Jacques Gallery, New York
2015 Brutto Gusto, Berlin, Germany
2014 Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels, Belgium
2013 Copenhagen Ceramics, Denmark
Hedge Gallery, San Francisco, USA 2012 Brutto Gusto, Berlin, Germany
Trapholt Art Museum, Kolding, Denmark
Jason Jacques Gallery, New York, USA
2011 Puls Contemporary Ceramics, Brussels, Belgium 2010 Galleri Jytte Møller, Fredericia, Denmark
Sintra, Gothenburg, Sweden 2008 Kaolin, Stockholm, Sweden
Puls Contemporary Ceramics, Brussels, Belgium
Gallery Carla Koch, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2007 Lerverk, Gothenburg, Sweden
Andrew Hollingsworth, Chicago, USA
2006 Galleri Nørby, Copenhagen, Denmark
2005 Puls Contemporary Ceramics, Brussels, Belgium
Kant, Fanø, Denmark
Gustavsbergs Porcelain Museum, Gustavsberg, Sweden Gallery Carla Koch, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2004 Clara Scremini Gallery, Paris, France Kaolin, Stockholm, Sweden
Vikingsberg, Helsingborg, Sweden
2002 Puls Contemporary Ceramics, Brussels, Belgium 2001 Galleri Nørby, Copenhagen, Denmark
2000 Galleri Björnen, Stockholm, Sweden
Clara Scremini Gallery, Paris, France
1999 Space for New Ceramics, Copenhagen, Denmark
Ribe Art Museum, Ribe, Denmark 1998 Galleri Nørby, Copenhagen, Denmark 1997 Galleri Björnen, Stockholm, Sweden

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, USA
The Danish Arts Foundation
Denmark’s Ceramic Museum, Grimmerhus, Middelfart, Denmark The Design Museum Danmark, Copenhagen, Denmark Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, Denmark
MAD, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA Musée Magnelli, Vallauris, France
The National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
The National Public Art Council, Sweden
The New Carlsberg Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark The Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden
The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan
V&A Museum, London
Vejen Art Museum, Vejen, Denmark