Trine Mauritz | Wenche Gulbransen
PUR 2
14 January - 7 March 2020
Pur means pure. For Trine Mauritz and Wenche Gulbransen the word relates to both Japanese modernism and their own work process. The project came about after the artists travelled together to Japan, back in 2018. There they visited museums and galleries showing Japan's modernism. Since their trip to Japan the artists have met up for regular conversations and to visit each other's workshops where they have been discussing prosess and sharing knowledge.
The exhibition PUR 2 at Galleri Format is the second in a series of three exhibitions Mauritz and Gulbransen create together. PUR 1 was exhibited at Drøbak Kunstforening in 2020 and PUR 3 will be exhibited at GalleryGallery, in Kyoto, Japan, in October of 2021.
Trine Mauritz studied in Japan, in Animatsu near Nagoya, in the early nineties. Here she explored special folding and colour techniques. In 1996 she completed a Master’s Degree at Kunsthøgskolen in Bergen, where her main study was the art of Itajme Shibori. Mauritz developed her own method using a energetic and powerful thicker quality of woolen cloth, unlike the delicate, thin textile traditionally used.
Mauritz often uses colour as a starting point. She works in dialogue with the material, observing and interpreting the materials as she interacts with them. In her exploratory approach she aims to gain knowledge and experience in order to obtain a deeper relationship with the works, both as an observer and a creator. She describes the process as moving within both known and unknown territory, and to move from empirical knowledge towards chaos and back again. Mauritz will be showing 3 large textile works built from modules, in addition to a series of watercolours.
Wenche Gulbransen will be showing works on handmade, folded paper. The motif is applied on the folded paper with graphite or the pigment Spinel black. This black has the depth Gulbransen is interested in. Pierre Soulages writes about what he calls Beyond Black: "Black is both a colour and a non-colour… ..It opens up a mental field, all of its own."
For Gulbransen, art is an open space, in which she can investigate visual and aesthetic options. Her method is intuitive and the works are the result of a long process of trial and error. This means week-long processes before form, colour, figure and ground materializes into something sensual and intellectually interesting. Aesthetics which also puts great emphasis on materiality, especially the kind you see in japanese modernism and architecture, are elements that play a clear role in Gulbransen's artistic practice.
Follow the link for video. A conversation between Trine and Wnche, about their inspiration and motivation for this exhibition.