In Marius Martinussen's artistry, formal abstraction is in focus. Through a long series of paintings, he has over the past 15 years explored the possibilities that abstraction offers, both for the painting itself, but also towards the viewer. From having previously combined several painterly expressions, Martinussen has in recent years moved towards a cleaner expression and a desire to refine this. In these works, we consistently find a relatively strict geometry where all points and lines relate to the golden ratio.

In this new series, the perspective is both completely flat and with incredible depth. With references to both cubism and abstract expressionism, the paintings are without a clear focal point, and rather have several possible entrance points for the viewer. Throughout the last 100 years, stripes have been a central motif in both art and popular culture. Artists such as Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley, Morris Luis and Daniel Buren have in various ways used repetitive stripes as a compositional principle for the painting.

The exhibition's paintings take you back to early technological innovations, including the legendary Atari game PONG (1972) where the player bounces a ball and the ball zigzags across the screen towards the other side. If it had left stripes it might have look like this. Here we are talking about stripe paintings that avoid being systematic. Martinussen works from a desire for a digital-like precision, but avoids the lifelessness and unsatisfactory color of the digital expression. The works are highly controlled exercises. The soft and hard transitions alternate elegantly across the canvas, and the color choices are both elegant and unexpected, while the precision is unparalleled.