Uncanny Personalities Appear from Nature in Malene Hartmann Rasmussen’s Ceramics

In her uncanny visages and sculptures, Malene Hartmann Rasmussen taps the ceramic medium as a form of make-believe. Surreal folkloric creatures take on absurd, sometimes cartoonish personalities, assembled from disparate plants and critters or reflecting characterful, mask-like qualities.

In Rasmussen’s playfully monstrous “Egg-head,” for example, silly antics are equally unsettling—what’s in its mouth? Where is the rest of its body? And “Inner Beast #10” gives a disgusted side-eye that’s open to interpretation. What does it find so offensive?

By disturbing the boundaries between cuteness and abjection and the playful and unsettling, the artist invokes the power of imagination and the enigmatic atmosphere of fairytales. Her ongoing Trolls series combines natural objects like snail shells, eggs, leaves, and flowers into sage mysterious faces that give little indication of whether they’re well-meaning or not.

Starting tomorrow, find these works alongside paintings James Mortimer in the exhibition Brutes at James Freeman Gallery, which continues through February 14 in London. Explore more on Rasmussen’s Instagram.

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