Thorbjørn Bechmann lives and works in Copenhagen. Bechmanns primary practice is a non-representative painting exploring questions og process, and representation in abstract languages. Central concerns are questions of communication, sensibility, and a representative language where notions of thinking are articulated through the artists hands and eye.
In the exhibition “Flotsam and Jetsam”, works on paper and canvas that are the flotsam and jetsam of his studio in recent years. Works that all transgress systemic order to celebrate the triumph of sensuality and intuition over systemic order.
What is being presented by Bechmann is transgressing language. It is a becoming in front of the viewer: abstract paintings that on one point reference mental landscapes, but at the same time without the composition elements. There are no horizons, no background or foreground, and no elements of perspective. They are a becoming rather than a being. They are constructed by the viewer while delving into the layers of paint on the canvas.
Thorbjørn Bechmann’s works offer a space for multi-faceted meditation over being, meaning and matter.
One could mistake the works for a space for contemplation and a surface to explore. But they are more specifically a tension between (non)representation and self-reference at work. The usual tools for understanding fail in the face of this painterly strategy that avoids any interpretability, any single decipherment or translation into spoken words. They are easy to delve into, but remain riddles without solutions.