COPENHAGEN.- Mads Gamdrup’s solo exhibition In Company with Titan White presents a new series of monochrome oil paintings that explore the physical presence of color in the delicate balance between transparency and density. Layer upon layer of hand-ground natural pigment builds the surface, allowing each hue to unfold into its own internal scale of shades and intensities. As colors shift and interact within the layers, the works invite quiet contemplation – where color is not just seen but experienced.
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For more than three decades, Gamdrup has worked with photography, investigating the interplay of color, light, and transparency. In 2021, he presented his first solo exhibition dedicated entirely to painting, marking a significant shift in his practice. While the methodology for these new works remains consistent – monochrome paintings created with pigment – there is now a new element: Titan White. This addition raises questions about what happens when another element enters the composition. The presence of Titan White becomes a metaphor for interaction and the transformative potential of being in the company of another.
Though his approach to painting is rooted in his photographic practice, Gamdrup’s transition in mediums is not a departure, but a further exploration of the phenomenology of colors. His long-standing interest in distilling light and color to their purest form continues here, focusing on the perceptual and material qualities of pigment. The use of over fifteen kilograms of Titan White in these works underscores the importance of layering and density. The act of incorporation is not merely technical; it is conceptual, addressing the nature of encounters and change.
At first glance, these paintings may appear reductive, limited to material and color. Yet, a closer look reveals a bodily presence – gestural brushstrokes, traces of movement, the impression of arms and hands in motion. By stripping away imagery and composition the awareness of surface, texture and interaction with light and color is heightened. Rather than presenting a static field, they demand slow looking, where perspective shifts over time, posing essential questions about perception, contemplation and the act of seeing itself.
In a time when visual culture is saturated with relentless stimulation, an exhibition of monochrome paintings can seem almost radical. Our eyes, accustomed to rapid consumption and fleeting images, may initially resist the quietude of these works. For some, they offer space for reflection and serenity; for others, they provoke discomfort, challenging the need for distraction.
By reducing painting to a single color, Gamdrup invites a form of embodied looking – one that moves beyond recognition into sensory experience. These paintings are not about what they depict, but about how they are experienced. They exist in relation to the viewer, unfolding in time and space. The viewer’s movement through the space interacts with the work, and the experience shifts according to the light, scale, and texture of the painting.
While this exhibition consists of paintings rather than photographs, it remains rooted in Gamdrup’s enduring inquiry into color and light. His approach emphasizes the essential, the original, the pure. Materiality is central: the tactility of pigment, the weight of the brushstroke, the way a color can be perceived not just with the eyes but with the body. A color is never just a color – it is an experience, an invitation to pause, to look, and to let oneself be absorbed into its depth.
Gamdrup’s monochrome works encourage an embodied form of seeing – one that is less about immediate recognition and more about sensory awareness. The experience of a monochrome painting is not just visual but also physical, as light, scale, and texture interact with the viewer’s movement and position. In this way, monochrome is not a limitation but an invitation – to see more by seeing less.
Mads Gamdrup
Born in Copenhagen, DK, 1967
Lives and works in Copenhagen, DK
Mads Gamdrup explores the interplay of light and color across various artistic mediums. With over three decades dedicated to photography, his entry to painting, may appear radical at first glance. Yet, within the context of Gamdrup's artistic evolution, this transition feels not just logical but essential to his ongoing exploration of light. He has consistently sought to distill his artistic vision, stripping away representational elements to focus solely on light's emotive power; constantly emphasizing its relation to both color and material.
In his glass paintings, he employs thick acrylic circles on hand-rolled, stained-glass sheets, creating compositions that accentuate the contrast between lights relation to paint and glass. Similarly, his Monochrome Colour Noise-series sees heavy layers of raw pigment applied to canvas, relying only on varying viscosity to evoke color contrast. Though initially imposing, these works reveal a subtle materiality achieved through the apparent presence of raw pigment. Despite the departure from photography in his recent works, Gamdrup's artistic sensibilities remain rooted in his background; his foray into painting represents not a rupture but a continuation and deepening of his artistic inquiry.
The exhibition is on view at NILS STÆRK through May 31, 2025.
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