Friday September 20th, we invite everyone to join the opening of the collaborative exhibition Till a Mermaid Drags You Under featuring Magnus Fisker and Astrid Specht Seeberg
In the exhibition, Fisker’s abstract landscape paintings meet Specht Seeberg’s sensuous ceramics, and together they create a show that drags us deep into the subconscious sea, and the eternal cycle of nature. A fascinating dialogue unfolds between the works of Fisker and Specht Seeberg, exploring human emotions and nature’s carefree existence. The exhibition title reflects the artists’ shared exploration of the sea as a space for emotional expression. Magnus Fisker’s paintings revolve around the inner landscapes of thoughts and anxieties, where abstract natural motifs mirror the uncertainty that marks his experience as a father in an ever-changing world. His brushstrokes capture the shifting hues of anxiety and how childhood’s innocent view of the sea as a source of joy, transforms into a reflection of an inner emotional world with the adult gaze. His works possess a depth of fear, hope, and transformation.
On the occasion of the exhibition, Magnus Fisker has composed a poem that captures his experience as a parent:
“Your gaze in my hand
there lies the sea, shimmering
to you, all water is the sea
I find it somewhere within me
maybe it has changed character
a faint pink hue
the faith your gaze gives me.
for now, anxiety lingers in me
some say you grow anxious as a parent
because you always need to be aware
feel the child's needs
Here you go
Paintings.”
Astrid Specht Seeberg’s ceramic works add a tactile, almost dreamlike quality to the exploration of the sea’s many meanings. Her pieces, both in a concrete and symbolic manner, revolve around creatures of the sea, bringing us closer to nature’s raw, unpredictable force. She describes an encounter with a fantastic, almost surreal creature— a hybrid fish of forms and genders, gazing at her with an eternal grin.
“Sitting by the water I once was lucky enough to encounter a fish swimming into my hands. On its head it had the bubbles of a goldfish, the fins of a fish, but the tail and body of a shark, and the mouth of a whale. I felt it become an extension of my hands as I held it. Hermaphrodite -whale-fish-shark has no need to wonder like I do, it harbors no doubts about its presence. It laughs, and I realize it waits for me to laugh with it.”
This creature, existing without doubt or worry, stands in stark contrast to humanity’s eternal search for meaning and tendency to interpret everything. This opposition between the endless sea and the uncertain human psyche forms the core of the artist’s works. The vast and enigmatic sea becomes a symbol of the subconscious—a place filled with emotions and secrets, a realm for metamorphoses, and a place where control and surrender meet. Specht Seeberg’s artistic process can be described as a deep dive beneath the sea’s surface. The more you look at her works – the deeper you dive – the more secrets are revealed in the hidden layers of the glazes. Each detail and each new perspective tell stories of mysteries and reflection, inviting us to explore the wondrous universe she creates.
In their engagement with the sea, both artists confront our perception of existence: Why do we constantly strive to understand, possess, and control what nature so effortlessly leaves be? Here, beneath the surface, the artworks challenge humanity’s endless drive to contemplate and interpret everything against nature’s inherent meaning. Nature doesn’t wonder—it simply exists.
”Till a Mermaid Drags You Under" opens September 20 and will be on view through October 19 in the main gallery.
