BLOSSOM
In the beginning of Spring 2010, the artist Gavin Harrison walks through Assistens Kirkegård the name of the graveyard where he enacts the daily paternal ritual of pushing a pram in which lies his sleeping son, Pavlos. The graveyard is located in Copenhagen near the city’s Arab quarter. Old trees surround the numerous plots that serve as the resting place for the most iconic personalities in Danish history, among them Hans Christian Andersen, Søren Kirkegaard and Niels Bohr to name but a few. The pathways of the cemetery are numerous and have a relaxed meandering feel to them. The harbinger of Spring the sprouting crocus are abundant and significant by merit of their collective capacity to form beautiful patches of color that mimic the blue of the sky and yellow streaks of sunlight. The graveyard also works like a thoroughfare a short cut for cyclists and pedestrians that may enjoy a brief interlude of pleasure, visual stimulation and the sensation of nature’s perfume as they pass through the refuge of the deceased. Galvin Harrison’s new and enigmatic sculptures evoke a realm that is at once molecular, botanical and celestial. Great artists can be generous and gracefully address the most complex and existential subjects through a deceptively effortless celebration of form, color and space. The greatest works by such artists are an affirmation of our highest aspirations. Blossom is the result of the artist’s relentless work ethic. Decades of trial and error formal issues investigated, resolved, rejected and then painstakingly reassessed. Galvin Harrison is an artist in the classic sense. He is always one with his materials and always physically present in the creative act.
(part of text by Hans Manner-Jakobsen)
(part of text by Hans Manner-Jakobsen)
