In his third solo show with Valerius Gallery, Danish artist Martin Paaskesen (*1987) presents his newest body of work where he brings forth a new support system by glueing small patches of canvas onto the surface. While playing with raw canvas, using a minimalist approach, the artist is blurring the lines between figuration and abstraction.

Paaskesen imbues his paintings with freedom and immediacy. Drawing inspiration from his childhood memories, the artist revisits symbols of his identity with a radical and yet playful writing. Emerged from a vast negative space, the brush strokes are bold and energetic. The figures and shapes strike by their raw musicality. Paaskesen creates an upbeat and subtle narrative. The exhibition Tissue illustrates the broad pictorial language of the artist, ranging from totally abstract, naively painted works to more figurative, realistic paintings.

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‘I am no artist’

Text by Martin Paaskesen
December 2022

I am no artist.

I always want to make a painting work. Really work. I need it to surpass my own understanding of my ability. It needs to grow beyond myself and surprise me. Sometimes it does, but it often does it in the empty spaces. The so called negative space. I want to fill up the negative space, making that space seem empty to the imagery, but actually make it the tissue of the artwork.
Like the outer space seems empty, but this is the mass that combines all the objects in the Universe. It’s the tissue.

And I want to fill the space with work. With fabric. With lust. With sex. With desire. With rage. With envy. With love. With texture. With boredom. With time.
This is where I find my mom and dad. My cousins. The neighbourhood I grew up in. My childhood and the drinking. My childhood friends. My ambitions. My observiant self. My disillusion. My selfhatred. My selflove. My mania. My uncertainty. My life. My position.

I am a vessel to this.

Perhaps that makes me an artist after all.