Monochrome is his main feature, an element that has the power to lead us to a wide range of contemplative opportunities. Rosengaard tests the limits and the possibilities of the monochrome, introducing components such as oil, ash, dust, pigment, opium seed, and hair on his canvases. The paintings create forms and volumes that take us to large blurred landscapes. Their pictorial silence defines its principle essence: the sensory perception of melancholy.
Several layers of natural elements are used to create texture and volume in the paintings. None of the paintings are equal and their affinity to Minimalism states their rejection of the pictorial. Moreover, black is a genuine Nordic color, powerful and extremely evocative. Its great depth becomes extremely sensitive; to the point that surrounds the exhibition space with a spiritual aura.
Rosengaard’s paintings allow an inside look into the viewer. They are, indeed, an introverted look at the most intimate corners of the individual. Thus, the meaning of these works is a responsibility of the viewer, who is given the chance to find out using its own means. In that sense, the range of narrative possibilities is infinite. For instance, some natural materials used, such as hair or dust, can be understood as an allegory of decay or degradation.
The paintings presented at Marie Kirkegaard Gallery are characterized by their large, yet still different sizes. The largest ones are bigger than the human body, and they give a tremendous spatial impact to the gallery space. Rosengaard’s paintings can seem remote and intimate at the same time, and they are subject to change according to the position of the viewer. The specific presence of the paintings in the physical space brands their strong and unique identity. In fact, they are specific both as objects and as images. Their character has associative and symbolic roots; a character that through the monochrome appears as fields within which the viewer’s gaze can roam freely.
Rasmus Rosengaard (b. 1979, Denmark) lives and works in Copenhagen. He is a graduate MFA from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2007. Since then, Rosengaard has exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently in the joint exhibition with Marie Søndergaard Lolk at Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art. He is furthermore represented in the collection of ARKEN Museum of Modern Art.
