BRUSSELS .- Maruani Mercier is now hosting Last Goodbye, the debut solo exhibition of our newly represented artist Kasper Sonne. From his Brooklyn studio of ten years to his childhood home that he lived in again upon returning to Denmark, the paintings in in the exhibition depict physical places that carry a meaningful significance to the artist. Whether these places are attached to emotions that are positive, melancholic, or somewhere in between, the works immortalize evocative memories wherein he also seeks closure. The cathartic process of painting them presented a salutary last goodbye, and, similarly to the nature of the eponymous song by Jeff Buckley which inspired the exhibition’s title, there remains a nostalgic affinity for these places.
The source materials used in the paintings are comprised of personal images from his archive from the last 15 years. Like a collage, he pieces together various fragments to create a single image, and never paints directly from a photograph. He writes, “I’m not interested in depicting reality - I’m interested in visualizing a mood…to me there’s obviously a clear connection between all my works. I don’t wish to reveal too much about my personal motivations, as I want the viewer to be able to make their own interpretations - but perhaps my interests can be identified as a fascination with the destructive elements in man and nature, combined with an overall feeling of displacement and melancholy.”
Kasper Sonne (b. 1974 Copenhagen, Denmark) graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation in 2000 and has for the past fifteen years been living and working between Copenhagen and New York. With roots in design and graffiti, Kasper Sonne spent years making large, bold figurative paintings, before turning to abstraction to fully explore the qualities of medium, without being beholden to narrative. Throughout his practice, Sonne has continuously investigated the way we interpret our surroundings and make sense of the world we live in by purposefully constructing and deconstructing reality. His works are included in several public collections such as Fuban Art Foundations in Taiwan, David Roberts Art Foundation in London and HEART Museum in Herning, Denmark.
