Revisiting Modernism with Espen Gleditsch and Lars Morell

At the fair, Gleditsch will present works from the series ‘Sanatorium Stenersen’, which focuses on early functionalist architecture, especially sanatoriums built for tuberculosis patients across Europe in the early twentieth century. Designed as restorative retreats where patients were thought to recover through sunlight, fresh air and rest before the advent of antibiotics, these institutions became some of the earliest examples of the bright, airy interiors now associated with modernism. Gleditsch’s photographs capture the tension between these utopian ideals and the existential anxiety tied to illness and isolation.

Lars Morell (b. 1980, Norway) approaches modernism through a more abstract investigation of the relationship between the visible and the invisible. Working across painting, sculpture, photography and installation, he has developed a distinctive visual language that he describes as “distorted still lifes”, exploring the tension between abstraction and figuration.

In QB Gallery’s presentation, Morell’s bronze sculptures The Host and The Guest are placed in dialogue with Gleditsch’s photographs. The sculptures suggest something bodily and organic, their forms appearing fluid and almost human. Through a subtle push and pull between connection and separation, they evoke both intimacy and alienation – echoing the reduction of form to its essentials that lies at the heart of modernist thinking.

Seen together, the works by Gleditsch and Morell reflect two different approaches to modernism. One returns to its historical context and architectural ambitions, while the other investigates its formal language through sculptural form. The dialogue between them highlights how modernist ideas continue to influence both artistic practice and cultural perception.