MATRIX @ Maltfabrikken
Matrix - installation @Maltfabrikken
Matrix installation is currently on display at Maltfabrikken in Ebeltoft, Denmark. Matrix consists of a large series of lithographs printed in different yellow hues on paper sheets and mounted on a wall. It was acquired by the Danish Arts Foundation in 2018, from the exhibition Panorama at Nordatlantens Brygge.
Matrix series consists of unique lithographic prints. In other words, there is only a single print version of each one. But the motifs in the prints recur in various colours, alone or in combinations with one another. You can distinguish each individual print, but presented together in a “matrix” all the prints make up one overall picture. In the series, Bjarne Werner Sørensen tests basic shapes and structures that characterise his art : the grid, the arabesque and organic formation. The motifs serve both as signs and images, somewhat reminiscent of Chinese calligraphy.
Matrix - installation has been on quite a journey, exhibited at art galleries worldwide since it was created at Danish Art Workshops in 1998 :
1998 Viborg Kunsthal, Denmark
1999 Tivoli Castle, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2000 Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjørður, Iceland
2000 Nanjing, China
2014 Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
2017 Nordatlantens Brygge, Copenhagen, Denmark
2021 Maltfabrikken, Ebeltoft, Denmark
Matrix is mathematical elements in a rectangular arrangement into rows and columns, and this is also the principle - aesthetically interpreted -behind the presentation of Bjarne Werner Sørensen’s lithographic sheets. The system is flexible and can be adapted to local conditions. The individual position of the sheets may be changed from exhibition to exhibition. Although there is a mathematical limitation on the number of variations, the possibilities seem endless. The idea for the series was born spontaneously during the artist's work with lithographic prints originally intended as monochrome single sheets. Suddenly he felt like combining prints from two lithographic stones on the same sheet in order to try out the effect, and the result was a quite systematic coupling of selected prints. He chose yellow and shades of orange, ochre and lemon because he aimed at a high intensity of color and a limited contrast. As he says himself: "This suggested to me a paradox of uniformity and individuality".
Written by Jan Garff, curator at The Royal Collection of Graphic Art (DK) and of the Danish Participation at the biennial. From the text for catalogue at the International Biennial of Graphic Art, Ljubjana, Slovenia 1999
matrix | ˈmeɪtrɪks |
noun (plural matrices | ˈmeɪtrɪsiːz | or matrixes)
ORIGIN late Middle English (in the sense ‘womb’): from Latin, ‘breeding female’, later ‘womb’, from mater, matr- ‘mother’.
the cultural, social, or political environment in which something develops: Oxbridge was the matrix of the ideology.
a mass of fine-grained rock in which gems, crystals, or fossils are embedded: nodules of secondary limestone set in a matrix of porous dolomite | [mass noun] : such fossils will often be partly concealed by matrix. • Biology the substance between cells or in which structures are embedded: the lipid matrix of olfactory cells. • fine material used to bind together the coarser particles of a composite substance: the matrix of gravel paths is hoed regularly.
a mould in which something, such as a record or printing type, is cast or shaped: her two duets with Isobel Baillie were never issued and the matrices were destroyed.
Mathematics a rectangular array of quantities or expressions in rows and columns that is treated as a single entity and manipulated according to particular rules: this formula applies for all square matrices.
an organizational structure in which two or more lines of command, responsibility, or communication may run through the same individual: [as modifier] : matrix structures are said to foster greater flexibility.
Matrix. Danish Art Workshops. Copenhagen.
Matrix. Grad Tivoli. Ljubjiana. Slovenia.
Matrix. Viborg Kunsthal. Denmark.
Matrix. Hafnarborg. Iceland.
Matrix. Nanjing. China.
The Spirit of the Image or Seeking Identity
The Danish artist, Bjarne Werner Sørensen, is a seeker of a different kind of art, as can be seen in the series of irregular patterns consisting of saturated yellow colour. The basic characteristic of his work is a sensitive search for balance between pure substance and sign, between the whole and details. His work reveals the interweaving of the inner flow of uncontrolled inner forces, with a strong sense of form. His works testify to a recognition that everything is subordinated to changes in time and space. The installation "Matrix", is a work in progress and consists of a mass of lithographic prints in yellow. It represents the artist's aesthetic and philosophic principles. It appears as it's in a constant state of change. The system is adaptable and can be erected in any surroundings, and individual erections can be changed from exhibition to exhibition.
Text by curator Breda Škrjanec, The International Centre of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana. From text for the catalogue for "International Contemporary Art Interflow Exhibition" at Jiang Su Provincial Art Gallery, Nanjing China, 2000.
Matrix. Installation view. North Atlantic House. Copenhagen 2017-18.
Matrix is a close encounter with the logic of nature: shapes that grow, branching into and out of each other. Some are wild and unruly. Others have delicately outlined, logical structures. It is the densely growing cell walls of leaves, the hard basalt of the rocky coast. But also soft tufts of moss peeping out, and flimsy, curled up leaf shoots sticking up out of the grassy plains. The basic shapes of Matrix are created on lithographic stones, and forms a flickering surface of organic systems in motion. And the movements continues out to the whole. From the individual work, through the prints’ interdependent combinations, Matrix grows into an overwhelming system of growth and organic structure, whose quivering tones from warm yellow to cold lemon pave the way for an unforeseen glimpse into nature.
Sine Frejstrup , text for the exhibition Panorama at the North Atlantic House in Copenhagen, 2017
Matrix. Complete 105 unique prints. Each 50 x 34 cm.