Benjamin Murphy (UK) og Lars Sarto Hempler (DK) / VERSO / 03.03 – 15.04.23

Galleri Lene Bilgrav is pleased to present the exhibition Verso with works by Benjamin Murphy (UK) and Lars Sarto Hempler (DK). At the exhibition, the artists will present brand new paintings. The aim is to create an exhibition where a dialogue occurs between the two artists’ different expressions. Come and see if it succeeds.

Verso means “the opposite” or “that which is on the other side”, and the title points to Lars Sarto Hempler’s and Benjamin Murphy’s immediate differences, but also their common features. Both artists work figuratively, but Lars Sarto Hempler has a color-saturated and color-complex artistic language, Benjamin Murphy exclusively uses black charcoal on raw canvas. Another common feature is the artists’ motifs. They both paint vegetation. For a number of years Lars Sarto Hempler has been occupied with trees as a motif. Not as a representation of the stemmed tree in the park or the sculpted bush in the garden, but to use them as a form he renews again and again. Benjamin Murphy paints the nature that we bring into our homes and put in the windowsill. The choice of motif and the non-choice of colors originated for him in an urge to become freer in his expression.

The motives of the two artists are two sides of the same coin. Namely the cultivated and controlled nature with which we surround ourselves, whether we are outside or inside. Whether we put plants in pots and take them inside, or we adapt nature outside, to a large extent we are talking about man-made and controlled nature. We bring the “wild” nature into our homes to bring something natural into the man-made, and outside we prune trees to control the wild nature. Nothing is particularly natural or wild. The wild, untouched nature is largely non-existent, and both artists point to this.

Lars Sarto Hempler (b. 1978, DK) was educated at the University of Arts in London in 2000 and at the Jutland Academy of Arts in 2006. He lives and works in Aarhus. He has exhibited alone and at group exhibitions in Denmark and internationally. He exhibited at Galleri Lene Bilgrav in 2020 with the exhibition Act Natural.

Benjamin Murphy (b. 1988, UK) is educated at the University of Arts in London. He has exhibited solo and in group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Most recently with Union Gallery in London. He is co-founder of the Delphian Gallery in London. He lives and works in England and Finland.