BERLIN.- Galerie Max Hetzler Berlin is pleased to present the exhibition RELOAD with new paintings by Ida Ekblad, on view at Bleibtreustrasse 45. This is the artist's first solo exhibition with Galerie Max Hetzler.

The bold use of colour and form, the dynamics of composition and the attentive dealing with different materials give Ida Ekblad's works a distinct vibrancy and spontaneity. Expressive, impulsive gestures dominate her canvases. Bringing ideas of rhythms and rhymes to mind, these twisted and winding lines indicate the artist’s strong interest in music and poetry. The constant shift between abstract forms and figurative elements – faces, human-like figures as well as letters – creates a momentum of visual impressions that is hardly tangible at first sight.

In her works, Ekblad includes a wide variety of art historical and pop cultural references. The practice of artist groups like CoBrA and the Situationists as well as modernist movements like Abstract Expressionism clearly influence her artistic work – an impact that Ekblad affirms and undermines at the same time. Mixed with references to graffiti aesthetics, cartoon characters and inspired by digital or virtual imagery, she produces a body of work that evades every definite classification.

The exhibition presents a series of new paintings mostly from 2015. Partly applying spray paint onto the canvas, Ekblad creates a diffuse and blurry surface in clashing colour combinations and overlapping structures. Some are framed by unicoloured bars and interrupted by signs, words and figures that seem to bring a second layer to the canvases. The imagery of alien figures, seemingly alphabetic characters and tag-like writings are recurring elements in her oeuvre.

Ekblad is deeply fascinated by different kinds of materials and techniques as well as their distinct nature. The multi-media and genre-crossing approach of her practice that incorporates performance, filmmaking and poetry, besides painting and sculpture, transmits restless, impatient notions but is rather an expression of the artist’s urge to discover and experiment with the properties of artistic means.

Ida Ekblad was born 1980 in Oslo where she currently lives and works. She studied at Central St. Martins College of Art in London as well as the National Academy of Art in Oslo. Ekblad’s work was presented in several solo and group exhibitions, for example at Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst, Oslo (2015 and 2012); National Museum of Norway – Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo; Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne; Palais de Tokyo, Paris (all 2013); Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2011); Bergen Kunsthall; Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (both 2010) and New Museum, New York (2009).

She took part in the 54th Venice Biennial in 2011.