The ceramic sculptures of Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl are emphasizing their fundamental existence in space. Through his precise formal elaboration of the material even a casual and banal gesture in space is attributed significance. With a vigilant eye for the monumental within the insignificant the artist works to create the conditions for shaping an intuitive, spatial form. He works from an overall vision, while at the same time making obstacles for himself in order to loose some of his control. Out of numerous pieces of cut claytubes the artist builds parts that are later assembled into larger structures, that rise and fall, randomly dancing and groping their way through space. The sculptural statements might be emerging out of a mental void. They exist, but they could easily have looked completely different. They are results of a distracted sense and thus remain pure sculptural movements – like a captured account of the moment.

For the exhibition at Galerie NeC Kaldahl will also be showing a series of new wall sculptures, that are works of a larger scale than he has shown earlier in the gallery. Most of these sculptures have been made during an artist’s residency at the Danish National Art Workshops in Copenhagen. The works are interpretations of basic elements in visual imagery, e.g. the line as sculpture or the sphere as a three dimensional reference to the point. The artist equally exploits material aspects referencing textures and colour of the rich ceramics culture itself.

Throughout his career Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl has worked with various formal expressions in clay. One returning theme has been the knot as spatial figure. He has made series of works, where natural form and cultural construction are juxtaposed – one reflecting the other. His interest lies in the potential of the form to make a direct emotional impact on the viewer. The motif is always clear in its simplicity – you see what you see – but the work equally displays a time-dimension of its own making, that underline the simple starting point and inscribes the work into a tradition, where the precise elaboration is a self-evident precondition.

• Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl [2014]October 21 to November 22, 201420, rue des Coutures Saint Gervais - 75003 Paris
• Martin BODILSEN KALDAHL 2022March 17 to April 23, 2022117 rue Vieille du Temple 75003 Paris
• Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl [2017]October 19 to November 20, 2017117, rue Vieille du Temple - 75003 Paris

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Exposed Work

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl

Martin BODILSEN KALDAHL

CV

Education

1990 Royal College of Art, London, UK

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl was educated at the Royal College of Art in London. Over the years he has worked with a number of different spatial themes that frequently re-occur in his formal vocabulary. These include the rhytmic and ornamental possibilities of, and around, the knot; the logic of natural, genetically based form

His works are represented in several public and private collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Danish Museum of Art & Design, Copenhagen; The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo and Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris.

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl is a member of AIC/IAC, International Academy of Ceramics. He lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark

Selected Public Collections

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
Musée d’Art Decoratifs, Paris, France
Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo, Norway
Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden
Designmuseum Copenhagen, Denmark
Trapholt Art Museum, Denmark
CLAY/Grimmerhus, Museum of International Ceramic Art, Denmark

MIMA, Middlesborough, UK

Diane and Marc Grainer Collection, Washington DC, USA

Annie and Otto Johs. Detlefs’ Foundation, Denmark

Aller Media, Denmark

Selected Exhibitions | Solo
2022 NeC Gallery, Paris, France.
2018 Ann Linnemann Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark.

2017 Spatial Drawings, Galerie NeC, Paris, France

2016 Possible Gestures, Gallery Format, Oslo, Norway

2014 NeC Gallery, Paris, France
2012 Other Objects, Copenhagen Ceramics, Denmark

2011 PULS Contemporary Ceramics, Brussels, Belgium

Selected Exhibitions | Group

2022 artgenéve [represented by Taste Contemporary], Geneva, Switzerland

2021 Odd and Even – A Collection, Maison Louise Carré, Paris, France [presented by Taste Contemporary]
Bend, Bubble and Shine, Hostler Burrows Gallery, New York and Los Angeles, USA

2019 Five Cubed, Taste Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
Ceramic Momentum – Staging the Object, Museum of Ceramic Art, Denmark Marsden Woo Gallery, London, UK
Copenhagen Ceramics Invites, Salone di Mobile, Milan, Italy
Hot Danes, Puls Contemporary Ceramics, Brussels, Belgium
100 Years of Danish Ceramics, Sophienholm, Denmark

2015 – 2016 andom Growth, PHOS Art and Design, London, UK

2014 X-Scapes, Copenhagen Ceramics, [with Marit Tingleff]
The Ceramic Object, Gallery Format, Oslo, Norway

2013 Danish Design at the House, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia

2010 Contemporary British Studio Ceramics, Mint Museum, North Carolina, US

2009 Mindcraft 09, Milan, Italy

2008 The Digital Clay, Designmuseum Denmark

2007 END, [English, Norwegian, Danish group exhibition], Designmuseum, Denmark

2002 -04 From The Kilns of Denmark, touring exhibition to five US museums, Paris and Berlin

Selected Awards

2017 The Annie and Otto Johs Detlefs Ceramics Prize

2011 The Inga and Eyvind Kold Christensen Award

2005 The Sotheby Award
Honorary Award, Ole Haslunds Kunstnerfond, Denmark

2001 Grand Prize of the Crafts Council in Denmark