Most artists source materials from the art-supply store. Astrid Krogh is not most artists. For her latest exhibition, at Hostler Burrows’s Los Angeles outpost, the Denmark-based creative got elbow-deep in the waters of the Kattegat Strait. She plucked wisps of seaweed to embed in collage-like compositions featuring finely layered pressed flowers and other natural materials backlit by LEDs. Last weekend, CULTURED convened guests at the gallery for a walkthrough of the exhibition, Krogh’s first in the U.S., titled “Arabesque.”
“I believe that there is a connection between all living things,” Krogh told CULTURED. “With this exhibition, I’m trying to build a bridge between the large and small structures of life, between order and disorder, visualized in ornaments and arabesques—a kind of vegetal poetics.”
At the opening celebration, CULTURED Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson welcomed guests including art advisor Sharón Zoldan, jewelry designer Nina Runsdorf, musician Dylan Carbone, and Studio&’s Kate Foley. Krogh and gallery co-founder Juliet Burrows led attendees through the display of wall-engulfing artworks. Gold sprouting foliage crawled along the wall, and, in a special commission, across the gallery’s exterior.
Krogh sources inspiration from nature as well as from the work of artists Hilma af Kilnt and Agnes Martin. “Growing up in rural Denmark, my early immersion in the language of plants and the world of vegetables fueled my understanding of a deeper pattern of possibilities beyond a materialist worldview,” she explained. “Some years ago, I moved my atelier from central Copenhagen to the countryside. Here, I have a view of open fields and the sea.”
For city-dwellers, the show offers a welcome respite from the carefully contained greenery of the urban landscape. Krogh’s compositions incorporate dandelions and other wildflowers that sprout through the cracks of LA’s sidewalks. Although she dabbles in the cosmic, Krogh ultimately trades in subtle, finer details. “One day this summer, I turned the back of a freshly pressed wildflower and I saw this amazing perfect star-forming ornament,” she recalled. “The sight was pure magic.”
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