Past

Jesper Carlsen: Surface Encounters

10 Nov 2017 – 6 Jan 2018

In recent years he has worked intensively with computer-generated representations of objects, surfaces and spaces as part of his investigation of the digital, both as an artistic medium and as a way of looking at the world. Inspired by the constructivist avant-garde, his works are based on what the artist himself calls a ‘reductionist’ approach. They are therefore often characterised by minimal compositions and geometric forms, where superfluous layers and references are stripped away to make the digital aesthetic and the logic of its underlying structures apparent.

In Surface Encounters, Jesper Carlsen pursues this field of investigation by focusing on simulations of physical materials. The first work encountered in the exhibition is an expanse of printed wallpaper re-producing the pattern of Perlin Noise. Perlin Noise is based on an algorithm developed in 1983 by the mathematician Ken Perlin to create a more life-like reproduction of texture and materiality. The algorithm creates a kind of digital patina that smooths out transitions in the pixelated structures and is today a widely used modelling tool, which is also a recurring sub-component of Carlsen’s works.