Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Cuts, Stripes and Knots
– a ceramic retrospective

8th September 2024 – 16th March 2025

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl is one of the most significant contemporary ceramic artists in Denmark and the upcoming exhibition at CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art Denmark is the most comprehensive exhibition yet on his work.

The exhibition “Martin Bodil Kaldahl: Cuts, Stripes, and Knots – a Ceramic Retrospective” presents the results of Kaldahl’s dance with clay over a period of more than 30 years.

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl (b.1954) graduated with a master’s from the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London in 1990. Kaldahl’s time at the RCA was a catalyst in the evolution of his work as he moved from creating utilitarian ceramics to exploring the possibilities of sculptural expression. In the early nineties, the basic forms of his works were still based on vessels as sculptural objects. But by around the turn of the millennium, the vessel disappears completely. What remains is pure sculpture. Kaldahl works experimentally with the artistic and technical possibilities of ceramics. He explores technological tools such as 3D printers. His sketches made partly by hand and partly with simple drawing software provide inspiration for his sculptural works, which he develops in series.

Kaldahl’s works are intricately composite, surprising and sensuous. They have a strong presence and an inner energy. With graphic patterns, strong colours, and shapes that move between abstraction and hints of both natural and human-made phenomena, they play with our spatial understanding and our world of experience. Kaldahl’s works therefore open to a wealth of possible interpretations.

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl has taught at the Royal Danish Academy and is a co-founder of the exhibition platform Copenhagen Ceramics. His works are featured in both Danish and international collections, including the National Museum in Oslo, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Alongside the exhibition, the book “Probing the Floor, Sniffing the Air” is published. In the book Kaldahl’s work is introduced and interpreted by American design historian and curator Glenn Adamson and the Norwegian art historian Jorunn Veiteberg. The book can be purchased in the CLAY shop or by emailing: info@claymuseum.dk

The exhibition is supported by:
Ny Carlsberg Fondet
Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond
Minister Erna Hamiltons Legat for videnskab og kunst
Augustinus Fonden
Den Faberske Fond
Toyota-Fonden
Statens Kunstfond
Statens værksteder for kunst
Carlsberg
Jotun

Caption:
Starshot Implosion, Natural Circumstance #10,
2009, earthenware, 17X­ 61X 19 cm
Photo: Ole Akhøj