Cylinders | Morten Løbner Espersen, Jussi Ojala & Gunilla Maria Åkesson

In the exhibition ”Cylinders”, three of the Nordic Region’s foremost ceramic artists present works in one of the most fundamental and obvious forms, the cylinder. The cylinder is simple, distinct and open, like a three-dimensional canvas with both inside and outside. Morten Løbner Espersen sometimes works in colossal format, usually with heavy and colourful layers of glaze, resulting in works that sometimes take on almost impressionistic expressions. Jussi Ojala always departs from self-composed glazes based on ashes, also with really heavy layers of glaze but with a more dramatic yet natural expression. Gunilla Maria Åkesson’s cylinders are hand-built and often get a certain skewness as part of the expression. Her surfaces are much more restrained and subtle even though she uses many layers of glaze and several firings.

Morten Løbner Espersen (b. 1965) lives and works in Copenhagen. He is educated at École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués in Paris in 1989-1990 and at the Royal Danish Academy of Design, Copenhagen, in 1987-1992. Espersen has shown his work in a great number of exhibitions in New York, Brussels, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Paris and London and has worked with Jason Jacques Gallery, New York and Galerie Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels, for many years. Espersen is represented in several Scandinavian and international collections, e.g. Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, Designmuseum Danmark, Nationalmuseet, Stockholm, Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, and The Public Art Agency, Sweden, and received Annie and Otto Johs. Detlefs’ Ceramic Prize in 2018. In 2019 he participated in the group exhibition “ReCLAYMED” at Berg Gallery.

Jussi Ojala (b. 1956) lives and works outside of Skara, Västergötland. Ojala has since his first exhibition in 1988 at Galleri Lejonet, Gamla Stan, shown his work in many separate and group exhibitions in Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Great Britain, Finland, and Norway. He is represented at Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, Nationalmuseet, Stockholm, Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels, Fylkesgalleriet, Norway, The Public Art Agency, Sweden, and in a wide range of municipal and regional collections. In 2018 he participated in the group exhibition “Sculpture Unleashed” with Cecilia Hillström Gallery + Berg Gallery, and in 2017 he presented his first solo at Berg Gallery.

Gunilla Maria Åkesson (b. 1963) lives and works in Gärsnäs, Skåne. She is educated at the National Academy of Art and Design in Bergen, Norway 1987-1992 and has since then shown her work in a large number of Scandinavian and international exhibitions. Her last solo shows include Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall, Arendal, Galleri Ping-Pong, Malmö, Puls Ceramics, Brussels and Contemporary Ceramic Center, London. In 2021 she was shortlisted for the international ceramics award Officine Saffi Award, Milano, and in 2018 for the international arts and crafts award LOEWE Craft Prize. Åkesson is represented at The Public Art Agency, Sweden, Malmö Konstmusem, Ystads Konstmuseum and The Arts Council, Norway, amongst other collections.