The Danish ceramic artist and sculptor Aya Simone Bækhøj Schmidt (b. 1995) is currently based in London. She graduated with a BA from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2020, and this year will complete her MA in Ceramics at the Royal College of Art.

In 2020, Aya exhibited at A. Petersen in Copenhagen, Bornholm Art Museum and Clay in Middelfart, Denmark. In 2021 she was shortlisted for the 4th Officine Saffi Award and exhibited at miart in Milan, Italy. That same year she was an artist in residence at Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Centre in Skælskør, Denmark.

“My work is driven by a fascination with the material qualities of ceramics and how they can be used to tell stories and evoke curiosity. It explores relationships in every shape and form – object to object, human to object, human to human. I am fascinated by how they affect and shape us.

For this body of work, I worked on the themes of grief and loss – more specifically the loss of physical form. By building abstracted figurative forms by hand I sought to make a series of sculptures that can create a moment of reflection. The surfaces are gestural, textured and tactile. The silkiness of the glaze is reminiscent of skin or marble, creating a setting for haptic memory.”

Sponsors: Augustinus Fonden, Klint Fonden, Nordea Fonden

Corey K. Lamb (b. 1983, Texas) belongs to a younger generation of artists who actively engage and explore central themes of human existence through their art. Currently established as an Assistant Professor of Painting at Florida Atlantic University, Lamb holds a BFA from Stephen F. Austin State University and an MFA in Painting from Indiana University at Bloomington.

Lamb's current body of work transposes biographical elements into universal, archetypal forms and figures, exploring the tangential point between eroticism and existentialism. Archetypal figures are familiar to viewers. They assume traditional social roles such as mother, lover or fool and participate in narratives constructed around simple gestures and common motifs.

The complexity of narratives is outweighed by the simplicity of execution. Lamb viscerally applies oil and acrylic paint and carefully arranges spray marks on his flat but ornate pictorial planes. The forms are chromatically consistent, providing clear delineation between forms placed in two-dimensional perspectives. The pictorial world is filled with deep melancholy, but also absolute bliss.

See Corey K. Lamb’s CV and find out more about him here:

https://www.hashimotocontemporary.com/usr/library/documents/main/artists/197/corey-lamb-cv.pdf

https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/post/artist-corey-lamb-painting-relationships-sex-death-love-and-teaching

The painter/ street Emeli Theander (b. Sweden, 1984) has lived and worked in Berlin since 2003. From 2006 to 2012 she studied fine arts at the UdK Berlin under Professor Valérie Favré. She was funded by the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) from 2009 to 2011 and, as part of this funding, also did a six month artist-in residency at the Platoon Kunsthalle in Seoul, South Korea. In 2014 she received the Dorothea Konwiarz scholarship and in 2013 the Merkel Collection and Foundation prize for her painting, Rhein Neckar Delta.

“The seduction of Emeli Theander’s work lies in the peculiar way she combines the poetry of dreams and the marvel of children’s tales. It is figurative, in the sense that it is a setting for mysterious totemic figures at the cusp of fantasy and myth. In a cold, aquatic light, creatures- half-human, half-animal – from the Norse legends, strike a pose, watching us. Their pink flesh contrasts violently with the extraordinary shadowy masks they wear as disguises, a baroque mishmash of all kinds of animals, birds, rabbits, fish or wolves, between dreamlike superimposition and carnival madness.

In her paintings and drawings she weaves a tight net of, as she puts it, ‘sweet and scary moments’, of obsessions, of recurring motifs which suggest that her work lends itself to be read like a story: the eye, the mirror, the circle, the mask, doubles, twins, animal hybrids.

The eye and the mirror serve as metaphors for the work of art (an invitation to look) and for narcissistic desire (to see oneself and to be seen in order to exist). In Theander´s work we see the image of the self at the edges of psychic dislocation. A strange theatre showing a playful state of human fragility.”

(Extract from a text by Eric Vinassac for Emili Theander’s exhibition Limbo Losers)

See Emeli Theander’s CV and read more about here here:

https://www.enterart.com/artists/emeli-theander/?pdf=6076

http://www.edmond-gallery.com/emeli-theander-biography

The abstract artist Eric Mangen (b. 1983) lives and works in Luxembourg. His artistic approach is based on the creation of backgrounds on which, like collages, he perpetually constructs and deconstructs, indulging himself in the synchronicities of ‘errors’. He works mainly in large formats, as this space enables him to express himself with free movements. These movements are energetic and express a strength, a feeling that emerges from deep inside him. One could compare the conception of his works to a dance, hovering between the pure intuition of his movements and logical construction, which invests the composition of each painting with rhythm. He works with a huge variety of types of paint and regularly experiments with surfaces: for example, metal, wood, photographic transfer and fabric.

His regular travels and artist-in-residence projects - for example, in Australia and the USA - and his regular international collaboration with contemporary artists, contribute to his artistic inspiration and evolution.

“The completion of an artistic work process and the subsequent separation from the individual work are like a release, both for the artist and for the canvas. Eric Mangen’s materials are his sparring partners: the composition of the motif is followed by its destruction, reduction or redesign. The artist and the motif view each other as equal partners who have set themselves tasks. And each time it’s a test of bravery. How soon you can let the other go?

The artist’s powerful, abstract and gestural approach to painting, which is very much about movement and energy and in close relation to action painting, generates a dynamic and rhythmic, yet poetic, sculptural body of work. There’s a constant conflict between controllable tools like spray cans or brushes and uncontrollable tools like his fire extinguisher, extra-large spray cans and solvents. In the artist’s spontaneous approach there is always a fragile line between controlling the accident and the actual accident.”

See Eric Mangen’s CV here:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e134bce4a6a866c4ee50fcd/t/60463557dd1f0d42d781ddcb/1615213911669/ERIC+MANGEN+CV.pdf

“I always think a second cocktail is a good idea. My work celebrates that moment and everything before and after that decision.”

London-based artist Frankie Thorp explores the humour and familiarity found in everyday objects. Her work is a modern twist on traditional still life painting, with kitsch 70s and 80s references such as cocktails and retro desserts. She enjoys the implied narrative created by her still-life ‘tablescapes’, alluding to the beginning or end of a party or a get-together with friends. She likes the idea that her work can “celebrate the euphoria of a long, lazy summer afternoon.” She studied illustration at London College of Communication and that background is reflected in the crystal clear imagery of her paintings.

Colour is the starting point for every piece, often more important to her than subject matter. Her main influences come from travel, film and dining. Her love of food and a good cocktail is reenacted in paint, yet often with a surreal or “cheeky” element thrown in - such as an out of place peacock or an elusive spectator, seen in a corner.

She says: “I have an abundance of still life photos that I have collected for reference either found or taken by myself. However, I often like to paint from memory as I like to reduce the objects in my paintings and find if I have the image in front of me I start including too much detail and I lose the desired outcome.”

Read interviews with Frankie Thorp here:

https://murus.art/artist/frankie-thorp/

https://partnershipeditions.com/collections/54-in-the-studio-with-frankie-thorp

‘Fugleburet’ is both the Danish word for ‘birdcage’ and the pseudonym of this Danish artist. There have always been birds in his life. As a child he had 13 pet birds and 2 mice – that was also the title of his first solo show. He also sees himself as a bird – flying freely, resisting constraint. Perhaps the main hallmark of Fugleburet’s work is the still life format with its consummate arrangements of objects and orchestrated lighting. But he always throws a spanner in the works and pulls the carpet from under the format’s feet, placing his objects in contrasting and incongruous spaces or distorting them with abstract freedom, and shattering the ‘stillness’ of the format with elements that seem to be scuttling away from the scenario. The result is a striking dynamism Then, of course, there is always his characteristic bird. The bird is the very foundation of his works. The antithesis of Picasso’s soft dove, Fugleburet’s bird is spiky like the distorted angular objects it accompanies – like something out of a nightmare or grotesque cartoon. Material-wise, he uses a brush for precision, and oil sticks for grainy, untamed lines. The effect is a spontaneous game of powerful colours and shapes, harnessed with discipline and an impressive sense of form.  

After graduating from the School of Applied Arts in Copenhagen, she was the first-ever Dane to study at the School of Visual Arts i New York. Ranning's works have captured the attention of an international audience and feature in several major art collections both in Denmark and abroad, including the Americas Collection (Miami, USA), Moderna Museet (Stockholm, Sweden), Malmö Konstmuseum (Sweden), Artothek (Cologne, Germany), the New Carslberg Foundation, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Vejle Art Museum and Fyns Kunstmuseum. Ranning's paintings interweave figurative and abstract elements in serenely constructed layers of oil, acrylic and marble dust, which together lead to polychromatic works characterised by a uniquely transparent lightness. In terms of motif, her works are ornamental, organic and graphic.

In 2012, Ranning received the prestigious Niels Wessel Bagge Art Foundation's Honorary Award at Louisiana Museum.

See Mads Rafte Hein’s CV:
https://raftehein.dk/aboutme

Matija Bobičić (b.1987, Slovenia) is a professor of fine arts and a representative of the youngest generation of Maribor-based painters. In 2005, he participated at the Transgenerations Festival of Youth Creativity at Cankarjev dom, where he was recognised for his outstanding contribution to the festival. During the past two years, he has participated in the GIFC (Got it for cheap) project, with many group and solo exhibitions. In 2018, Bobičić held his first solo exhibition in New York (Under the Rainbow at Marvin Gardens), which was featured on the artnet.com webpage in the Editor’s Pick: ‘11 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week’. He has also participated in group exhibitions in Los Angeles, Vienna, Ljubljana and London (including What Kind of Spirit is this? at the Sim Smith gallery).

His paintings are rooted in his memories of his childhood. Matija first began expressing himself by drawing cartoon characters based on the TV cartoons of the 1980s and 1990s, and the toys and ephemera of that period. His paintings reflect a childlike curiosity - the figures are flat and outlined with a prominent contour. His work is composed of bright, often contrasting, fields of colour and his characters resemble enormous cyborgs, standing firmly and proudly before the viewer like modern day colossi.

See Matija Bobičić’s CV find out more about his work here:

https://bobicicmatija.weebly.com/cv.html

https://allouchegallery.com/sites/default/files/matija_bobicic_cv.pdf

https://bobicicmatija.weebly.com/works.html

The layers upon layers shed light on something submerged under them. Shadows of something visible rise to the

foreground, transforming something concealed into a motif. Broadly speaking, this is the way the Hamburg-based artist

Simon Nelke works.

From his early art student days, Nelke has been tackling human figures with remarkable persistence and stubbornness.

Using a technique of crystallisation and erasure, he transforms them into mysterious protagonists,.

The principle of stacking or layering and the partial scraping away of the oil paint form the basis of his special

technique, in which former layers of the work reappear. (Spectral-wise*) Nelke’s palette is extensive and his colour

choices are unmistakable.

Frequently, he produces an exotic or muted visual tone by using toned-down violet, blue, green, and pink shades,

thereby underscoring the often magical effect of his pictures.

All of Nelke’s works reflect his creative self-confidence, articulated with the use of symbols.

Dreamy, often enigmatic motifs from Eastern or Western culture or from a world of indigenous peoples reflect

something hidden and play a key role in this young artist’s works.

A subtractive spectral colour is a colour is not mixed with white or black. As described in Johannes Itten’s colour circle,

the colours are cyan, magenta and yellow, and the colours that mixing two of the primary colours produces. If all three

primary colours are mixed, the result is achromatic black or a broken colour, depending on the mixing ratio. Colours

obtained by mixing two primary colours in perfect proportions are called ‘secondary colours’ - green, orange and

violet. The other spectral colours are called ‘tertiary colours’.

Simon Nelke’s website:
https://www.simonnelke.de/

Poppykalas is a Floral Design Studio in Copenhagen.

“Flowers are my way of telling a story, setting a scene, creating emotion, speaking a language beyond spoken or written words. With form, colour, smell and touch I challenge the stage and the interaction in its very own distinctive way and extravagant style.” (Thilde Maria Kristensen, Founder & Creative Director of Poppykalas)

After a career in theatre and as a producer, Thilde Maria Kristensen switched exclusively to styling flowers. With great success. Within a short time, she has become one of the most demanded creatives in Copenhagen and works for both international companies and private clients. Thilde Maria Kristensen started her flower styling studio Poppykalas because she missed being creative in her job. These days, she is able to express herself in one of the most beautiful ‘materials’ – flowers. With flowers being the new it-accessories for both brands and interior enthusiasts, Thilde has amassed around ten thousand followers on Instagram who are in love with her arrangements. Her unique stylings are not only used as eye-catchers in the flagship stores of big brands, but also get booked by magazines and weddings. In her studio in Vesterbro, Copenhagen, she has created a beautiful world of creativity and new ideas, all evolving around blossoms and blooms.

Her sensuous, swirling, luxuriously impasto paintings are yet another tribute to, and celebration of her total belief in the beauty of flowers.

See:

https://www.instagram.com/poppykalas/

Link to interview with Poppykalas:

https://thursd.com/articles/poppykalas-from-denmark

Valerie Savchits is a multidisciplinary artist, born in Riga, Latvia. Since completing her studies at the University of Salford in 2016, her work has been actively exhibited in galleries nationally and internationally. Savchits is the recipient of Hotel Elephant and Southwark Council Arts & Culture Grant Scheme and was selected as one of the three hundred art students to exhibit her work at the Future Late exhibition at Tate Modern in summer 2016. Valerie has been featured in numerous blogs and publications including The Guardian, Manchester Evening News and The Resident. She currently lives and works in Brighton, UK.

Savchits' body of work primarily consists of mixed media paintings and readymade installations and sculptures, constructed out of a vast array of materials including but not limited to clay, raw minerals and metal. The artist threads her stories, feelings and fragments of memory from then and now just like pearls onto a string to create her own mythological system. The inspiration for Savchits' work comes from different mythologies and cosmic symbolism that play an important role in forming her visual language. The textures, lines, shapes and even colour palette found in surrounding landscapes influences her style and manner, both in sculpture and painting.

See Valerie Savchits’s CV here:
https://www.valeriesavchits.com/exhibitions