Silent and yet very present, Turi Heisselberg Pedersen’s sculptures inscribe themselves like a body in space attracting attention as much on themselves as on the “negative” space surrounding them. With their mat and dry surfaces, the pronounced contours of these “vases” create an optical play leaving doubt over the reality between two and three dimensionality. An even more intriguing perceptive disruption as the works can be associated with still lifes the likes of a Morandi painting.

Yet above all, these vases or jars are part of a very pure research on form and sequences with variations around common base elements (circles, cones, rolls…). Open or closed, concave or convex, straight or round silhouettes, Turi Heisselberg Pedersen plays with the meaning established by contrasts in shape and subtle variations in colour. Monochrome engobes (coloured clay slip coatings) are applied, not as an added surface layer, but at one with the object. The colours range from warm earth tones (ochre and dark brown) to a cold palette made up of greys, blues and lava blacks. The series are based on formal variations and rigorous lines – occasionally geometric, organic or sensual – around which a dialogue is created. A dialogue including references to the history of sculpture, the ancestral tradition of the vase and the skilful evolution of form as developed through repetition by the potter. Conceived to exist and act as a body of work juxtaposing vase and pot archetypes, Turi Heisselberg Pedersen’s works above all research the sculptural relation to space. Inspiration often comes from the decorative arts and architecture. This is the case with the “baluster vase” series, constituting the main part of her upcoming exhibition and where sizes vary between the intimate and the monumental.

Turi Heisselberg Pedersen’s (born in Denmark, 1965-…) works have already been exhibited in France in the exhibition From the kilns of Denmark (Maison du Danemark, 2004) as well as at the Galerie Pierre. She has also been presented in the United States (American Crafts Museum, NY, Fitchburg Art Museum, Mingei International Museum, San Diego, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento and Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin, 2003-2004). She regularly exhibits in Germany and Scandinavia where her works are part of public collections. Turi Heisselberg Pedersen is a member of New Danish Ceramics, a group of 7 notorious ceramic artists. In 2009, the Kunstindustrimuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts, Copenhaguen) hosted TIME OUT, an exhibition confronting the works of Turi Heisselberg Pedersen and Lone Skov Madsen and a selection of objects from the museum collection. The exhibition was prized by the Danish Arts Foundation.

* Technique: the raw material for Turi Heisselberg Pedersen’s sculptures is a Hungarian clay modelled using a Japanese technique of thick coils (3–4 cm) flattened or stretched before assembling. During the course of construction the artist continuously checks the regularity of the form taking shape. Once finished the work is fired a first time at 1260 degrees Celsius in an electric oven before the application of an engobe and a second firing. The engobe is sprayed on in order to allow a perfectly regular application as this type of engobe doesn’t melt in the oven and no smoothening is therefore obtained during the firing.

• From 6.03.2010 the works of Turi Heisselberg Pedersen will be visible on www.marialund.com
  
• OPENING : Thursday 11th March 2010 from 6 to 9pm, the artist will be present.
  
• The exhibition lasts until Saturday 24th April 2010.

For further information about the  availability of visuals, please contact :
GALERIE MARIA LUND     48 rue de Turenne     75003 Paris

Tuesday-Saturday 12-7 pm
ph : (33) 01 42 76 00 33    cellphone : (33) 06 61 15 99 91    fax :(33) 01 42 76 00 10