Carl Krull: NECTAR

26 Apr - 1 Jun 2024

The joy of painting flows freely, like nectar from the artist’s hand

Carl Krull, Nectar.

The joy of painting flows freely, like nectar from the artist’s hand

Formation Gallery is proud to present Carl Krull's second solo exhibition in the gallery.
With NECTAR, Krull showcases a joyful and free expression in his artistic practice through a series of new paintings. The joy of painting flows freely, like nectar from the artist's hand.
For over 10 years, Carl Krull worked exclusively in black and white. During this time, many constraints and dogmas dominated, aimed at breaking the very essence of the line, which is fundamental to the artist's work. In this period, known as the artist's "seismic period," the contour line ceased to be central, and the motifs appeared through a multitude of interrelated lines. After Krull moved from Copenhagen to his current home and studio in the countryside, he began painting exclusively in colors.
Where Carl Krull was previously confined to a dogmatic seismic universe in black and white, the barriers are now completely down, and the joy of painting flows openly. The line is given freedom, and anything can happen. Fresh and colorful, Krull's new paintings unfold, pointing to the exhibition's title, NECTAR - one feels drawn in, captivated by the appetizing and sensory expression.

With this second exhibition at the gallery, Carl has thus let loose and found an even more freely imaginative expression. The colors are very vivid, almost technicolor, and they harken back to the title, suggesting flowers and honey, where the motifs seem almost edible in their intensity and explosion of color. The body is more in focus, arms, legs, and a wild freshness immediately catch the eye. Krull has opened himself up to a freer expression.

In the exhibition "Protagonist" two years ago, we saw the first steps in this newly liberated aesthetic. He opened up to painting and colors at Formation Gallery's inaugural exhibition. Here, the portrait, the protagonist, was at the center. Fingers moved across the canvas, as if on a misted window or mirror after a steaming bath. The contour was lifted, and the face emerged through thousands of circuits, longitudes, and latitudes intersecting in a complex tangle. In the new paintings, the artist has let go of all constraints. The experiences gained previously are baggage that occasionally still surfaces, but there are no rules anymore. Meticulously and curiously, Krull excavates the motifs from the layers of paint and canvas. In a performative balancing act, the artist experiments with adding, mixing, stopping, continuing, destroying, painting over, and "finding" the motif, while his own body works, traverses, circulates, and attacks the artwork.

For Krull, the title of the exhibition is ambiguous. It takes him back to his childhood when he spent every summer visiting his grandparents in Poland. Upon arriving at the Polish countryside close to the Ukrainian border, the first thing he did was run out to his grandfather's bees in the garden to watch them dance in the air, in and out of beehives. The honey from his childhood bees sticks in his memory as a sweet reminder. At the same time, the title leads his thoughts towards his mother, who was also an artist. Her works were often inhabited by the bat and the hummingbird, which, like the bee, also drink nectar. Nectar is also the drink of the Olympic gods, their source of eternal life. The life of the artworks continues after the artist's own life is over, like a blooming nectar-filled fruit that remains forever young and relevant. Welcome to NECTAR.
Source:
Formation Gallery

Adress
Formation GalleryGasværksvej 9,
1656 København V

Opening hours
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: 12:00 - 17:00
Thursday: 12:00 - 17:00
Friday: 12:00 - 17:00
Saturday: 11:00 - 15:00
Sunday: Closed

Entry price
Free

Accessibility
Level-free access - yes
Handicap toilet - no
Free for companion - yes