Triumph and Catastrophe

Morten Løbner Espersen is absorbed in the colours, structures, and lustre of the glazes. Curiously he examines the effects of the glazes when they run across the surfaces of the chosen shapes: the stringent cylinder with its vertical walls, the spherical Moon Jar, the elliptical Magma Jar, or the lavish Horror Vacui amphora with its vigorous, twisted ornaments. The surfaces and curves of the shapes of the vessels influence the progress and potentials of the glazes and they contribute to the constant interplay between the plain and the complex. With layer upon layer and exposed to several firings, the glazes unfold an endless abundance of colour effects and tactile expressions. From the shiny oil pool, the spongy moss of the forest floor or the tinder-dry conditions of the desert to the loud colours of the sweet shop.

Morten Løbner Espersen goes far beyond rules and recipes. When the ceramic vessels are taken out of the kiln, the results balance delicately between the attractive and the repulsive, between triumph and catastrophe.

Triumph & Catastrophe is the biggest representation of Morten Løbner Espersen’s ceramics in Denmark so far. It assembles the two exhibitions which were presented during winter and spring 2021-2022 at Keramikmuseum Prinsessehof in Leeuwarden and Kunstmuseum Den Haag in the Netherlands and is supplemented with further works, which Morten Løbner Espersen created in the shadow of Covid-19. A period which for the internationally acknowledged ceramicist was extremely intense and productive. The shapes are different, the material is the same: soft, manageable clay exposed to his whims and manipulation.