All photographs by Paul D’Agostino.
I recently visited painter Liv Mette Larsen in her Bushwick Studio to have a look at some of her newest works before she ships them off to Asker, Norway for a large solo exhibition at Trafo Kunsthall.
One of the particular joys of becoming acquainted with Liv’s work over the past six or so years has been to gain a deeper awareness of her consistently traceable lines and connectible dots of formal and material cross-informativeness. While we looked at and discussed the installational possibilities of a great many paintings, watercolors and collages, we chatted about egg tempera myths, figurative abstractions, mural nuances, compositional meta-contexts, the dramatic effects of leaving even the slightest spaces open or closed, and the wealth of aesthetically catalytic information that can be obtained from industrial structures that stand uniquely—perhaps even proudly—as distinct markers of place.
I’ll be furthering all such thoughts in the catalogue essay I’m writing for her show. I have a feeling that the book of poetry Liv gifted me as I left—Silene, a volume in Norwegian and German by Liv’s friend and sometimes creative collaborator Tone Avenstroup—might give me some additional ideas to tease out.
Liv’s show, tentatively titled Concrete Factory / Slemmestad Fabrikker, will open in May 2017. You can find more information about her and her work on her website, here.
Paul D’Agostino, Ph.D. is an artist, writer, translator, curator and professor living in Bushwick, Brooklyn. More information about him is available here, and you can find him as @postuccio on Instagram and Twitter.
Thank you Paul!