Morten Plesner | Remains

Bricks Gallery is pleased to present Remains, a solo exhibition by Morten Plesner, with an opening reception on Friday, June 6, from 5-8 PM. This marks Plesner’s third solo exhibition with the gallery, featuring a new body of ceramic works, spanning both reliefs and freestanding sculptures.

In this exhibition, Plesner continues his investigation of controlled chance – a working method that welcomes unpredictability into the creative process through fire-based techniques and site-specific gestures. These processes allow natural forces to intervene in the making of the work, positioning nature not just as a subject, but as a collaborator.

The title Remains speaks to a central duality in the exhibition: the works resemble archaeological finds or objects retrieved from the bottom of the ocean, yet they are firmly rooted in the present, shaped by processes that embrace imperfection and the unknown. In this way, the works explore how change, matter, and context shape both form and meaning.

For instance, his ceramic reliefs, Plesner uses branches found in the rural landscape near his home in Lejre, Denmark. Each branch is carefully coated with layers of porcelain slip until a ceramic skin forms around the organic structure. The pieces are then glazed with raw wood ash from locally sourced trees – a process through which the chemical composition of each tree visibly affects the surface. The resulting works appear as skeletal remains, both fragile and enduring, shaped by fire and time.

As a counterpoint to the reliefs, a group of vessel sculptures occupies the gallery floor. These cylindrical forms balance on cone-shaped bases, like spinning tops caught in stillness. While they might recall ancient clay vessels, they can also suggest objects from an imagined future. Their surfaces bear the unpredictable marks of soda-firing, where flame, ash, and atmosphere shape the final result.

Across both reliefs and sculptures, Plesner explores the balance between control and intuition, stability and collapse. The works are at once remnants and witnesses – traces of what once was, and signs of what may come. Together, they reflect his ongoing interest in how transformation, material, and place shape both the work and its meaning over time.

Morten Plesner (b. 1979) is a Danish visual artist who lives and works in Lejre, Denmark. Educated as a scenic painter at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in 2004, Plesner’s practice spans painting, sculpture, and installation art, often incorporating techniques involving fire, smoke, and other heat-based processes. Recent exhibitions include ‘Daydream Rituals’ at Bricks Gallery (Copenhagen, DK, 2022), ‘Atoll’ at Bricks Gallery (Copenhagen, DK, 2020), and ‘Bobler’ at Museet for Samtidskunst (Roskilde, DK, 2021).