‘ ...for the spectator, I want the form of the work to be familiar, to be knowable, open, workable and playable. They are modular and they are fragments both in physical fact and in idea at the same time…’

FOLD is pleased to present a solo exhibition by leading Danish artist Torgny Wilcke. The show consists of new works of sculpture and paintings constructed from the most ubiquitous of materials; pre-formed iron roofing, wooden board and sawn lengths of coloured timber built up in ribs.

These are works made of the familiar DIY building materials that surround us in everyday life. Although at first the material form and nature of the works guide the viewer to confront the bare face of functionality, ultimately they weave away from referencing real constructions - a real shelf, a real wall and real furniture - to create their own distinct discourse and to reveal ambiguity as one of the defining characteristics: An artwork with the form of a shelf is still not a shelf.

‘I want to build paintings directly, like casting concrete or laying bricks, like building walls and houses. I want the fragments to have a factual clarity and to combine into a painterly and elemental quality.’

Wilcke builds his works as if he’s building a wall of bricks and mortar. Structures are made in sections and are repeated and reformed in series. They are flexible and can be reconfigured much like the IKEA design solution for homes and offices. Modules, bricks, blocks, lengths of timber and similar materials are capable of forming many kinds of structures and creating many variations in space. By tackling these everyday design and build practicalities Wilcke brings the viewer to a point beyond the facts of the material:

‘The fragmented paintings, though extremely concrete, may set up a narrative - a narrative different from storytelling and literary reference, but maybe one close to the bits of broken narrative experienced when you live in our modern world.’