Thorbjørn Lausten

Stalke Gallery
Vesterbrogade 15: Thorbjørn Lausten, until February 17th, Tue-Fri 2–5:30 PM, Sat 12–3 PM.

Stalke Gallery

This is certainly the case with Thorbjørn Lausten, the light magician, at Stalke. Here, both the object and the sensory experience are emphasized. The arrival itself is an experience. You are practically blinded on your way to the gallery, bombarded by the projector from a hanging steel structure.

The exhibition unfolds as a play between these intensely luminous devices in the rooms and a series of delicately executed paintings, which almost function as some sort of afterimages. Lausten is an extremely fascinating artist because he manages to engage his viewer in a complete process of associations that always ends in pure light.

You begin with a head full of spaceships, X-ray machines, radio equipment, and Tintin and the secret weapon, but are slowly pulled out of this association flora toward the pure streams of energy, toward the light, toward an entirely ethereal experience of seeing.

It is fashionable to say that this type of art is "brain art," that it demands interventions from all sorts of concepts, but you can safely abandon concepts in the company of Lausten. His art is refined in the same way that technology can be. And in doing so, he has indeed grasped the number one material of painting: Light.

By Poul Erik Tøjner

Weekendavisen 9.2.1990

Thorbjørn Lausten:

Reflection.

Stalke Gallery, Vesterbrogade 15, Copenhagen. Open Tuesday-Friday 2:00 PM-5:00 PM, Saturdays 12:00 PM-3:00 PM. Until February 17.

What is it that we seek when we turn to art? Experience? Insight? Both?

You get a bit of both when you explore Thorbjørn Lausten (born 1945) and his light sculptures.

Practically all art makes use of light, but only a limited part emits light itself with the help of electricity.

Thorbjørn Lausten's light sculptures or installations consist of metal frames in clean, geometric shapes, glass panels, and very powerful lamps that emit light according to a pre-programmed system.

The combination of technology and art is usually associated with artworks that, from a "humanistic" perspective, aim to evoke terrifying visions of a cold, mechanical future seemingly dominated by robots and totalitarian surveillance systems.

Not with Thorbjørn Lausten. Technology, particularly information technology, is a tangible reality in our world.

And therefore, it is not surprising that visual artists also use computers and mechanical steel constructions in their works.

Thorbjørn Lausten merges the two worlds. This offers both an opportunity for insight into the surrounding world – and very beautiful aesthetic experiences.

Torben Weirup

Berlingske 26.1.1990

Exhibitions

Blinding

Thorbjørn Lausten has made a significant mark this past year with two major exhibitions that no one should overlook. One was his solo exhibition at Funen’s Art Museum in the spring. The other, "Cone, Mill, and Light" at Herning Art Museum in the summer, where Lausten exhibited alongside six American colleagues, exploring the aesthetics and cognitive potential of light, time, and space.

Now, with the mystic's axis as his anchor, Lausten has brought light to Stalke Gallery. Sharp projectors pierce through white light into transparent membranes of circular forms, creating a play of shadows and reflections.

As a viewer, you and your shadow become participants in this exhibition, which seems to begin with the simple shapes of the apparatus but then extends to all corners of the rooms, carried by the literal radiance of the objects.

The exhibition, which can rightfully be called an installation, plays not only with light and its fascinating shadow effects — such as the grid on the walls or the intriguing "light shadow" from the side of a reclining object in the basement — but also with the inherent reflections of the works themselves, a significant moment repeated infinitely. This is a proud light arc whose magic stretches all the way to Vesterbrogade.

The circle is the recurring motif in the light sculptures.

This theme is also present in Lausten's canvases on the walls, where circles and circular cutouts are painted two and three layers over each other like mandala forms, attempting to grasp the magic of light in a tangible, material form.

At first, it all might seem sharp and harsh — geometry and technique — but if one has already sensed the poetic and visionary dimension of the exhibition, its affectionate and hopeful praise of the mystical potential of light, you notice it even more when discovering how the shadow of the warm air currents from a projector rises organically, softly, and spirals upward, carrying with it a small piece of burning material against the back wall.

Thorbjørn Lausten, Stalke Gallery, Vesterbrogade 15. Open Tues-Fri 14:00-17:30, Sat 12:00-15:00. Until February 17.

By Lars Grambye

Information 1.2.1990

LIGHT THAT BLINDS

The aesthetics of technology in Gallery Stalke

Thorbjørn Lausten’s sculptures are dazzling, in the most literal sense of the word, as they are filled with electric bulbs emitting both 500 and 1000 amperes of light, piercing and brutal to the eyes, to the point where you must tell yourself to look away. But that's just the beginning...

I had my dentist recommend a visit to Gallery Stalke at Vesterbrogade 15 (Copenhagen), and while he couldn't quite connect it to what he meant, he plainly said, "This is the emperor's new clothes, isn't it?" and didn’t say much more.

While art may sometimes "speak for itself," the most important thing, when visiting an exhibition, is to remain open and not dismiss things out of hand. Thorbjørn Lausten is not a somber man who believes everything he creates is significant, nor does he dwell on our highly technical age. He simply acknowledges its logic: that art uses these materials because they are offered to us.

EVEN THOUGH THE MATERIAL used in technology can seem cold, there is a deep interest in the human aspect and in the "experiment" you experience in the gallery.

Beyond the sharp light, which captures the energy sources of our time, one cannot claim that Lausten shocks or points an accusatory finger at development. Quite the opposite, in fact. By employing the materials of our time — fluorescent tubes, metals, computers, and so on — one could say he acknowledges where we stand, that we are in the midst of something we must learn to live with and that could not be otherwise.

Looking at the exhibited objects, there is undoubtedly a purity, even a beauty, which is essential.

Without wanting to compare it to the works of traditional artists, I recall how, some years ago, I toyed with the idea of replacing my old-fashioned typewriter with a computer — only to feel as though a piece of my past was being hammered away. Computers scare me a little — they possess great power, and even in their usage, I find them unsettling.

But I use them now, and Lausten’s works break down the barrier I once had. They are honest about their modernity and strike a chord of beauty in their clean lines and logic.

Alex Steen

Ekstrabladet 6.2.1990

STALKE GALLERI - ENGLERUPVEJ 62 - 4060 - KIRKE SAABY - DENMARK - PHONE: +45 2926 - 7433

CONTACT:  STALKE@STALKE.DK

OPEN BY APPOINTMENT