Picked an Orange for a Renaissance Girl

Anders Scrmn Meisner (b. 1981, Copenhagen) is a Danish visual artist, currently residing and working in Copenhagen. His paintings meld ornate designs, elements of wit, and symbolism within imaginary landscapes. Meisner's creations resonate with a certain somberness, conveying depth without excessive embellishment. Often likening his work to contemporary cave paintings, these pieces are 'descriptive without being explanatory', they invite viewers to explore a world that is not external, but a mental representation experienced within themselves. Inspired from traditions of French painting, Meisner's imagery weaves together loose impressions, art historical allusions, and personal recollections. A woman lying within a giant oyster shell in a blue garden. A ring lying on a blanket of grass. Kimono-wearing dancers swaying within a wall of leaves. Danish artist Anders Scrmn Meisner's latest paintings draw on sense memories and the language of shared symbolism, inviting us into a cocoon of romance, beauty, and connection. The exhibition's title painting, Picked an Orange for a Renaissance Girl, captures the mood. It evokes the idea of stepping back to a simpler time, when we were perhaps more in touch with the natural world and our emotions, when the gift and receipt of an orange was enough to convey love, admiration, or simply, mutual understanding. But as with all of Meisner's works, the line as well as the composition itself—an orange stretched almost to the full parameters of the canvas—has a playful knowingness about it. Here, the artist is relishing in the luxury of painting a piece of fruit, imbuing it with importance, while fully aware that we are not living in the time—or perceived romance—of the Renaissance. The delicate translucency of the orange's green leaves gives way to a harshly contrasting background where black earth meets a red sky and a mysterious black moon. A similar tension is captured in the painting Thick Walls to Protect All Beauty. Here, we find ourselves standing at a wall painted with giant flowers, fruit, and a decorative scalloped edge. It is a work of beauty in its own right, as well as a shield, as the title suggests, against all forces which might disrupt or destroy beauty. At a time of global upheaval, it might feel like a necessary or even longed-for structure, but it is a barrier nonetheless and one we find ourselves standing outside of, even if the window and door suggest entry points. Meisner's compositions are built from the lines that he jots down in his notebooks, which become the titles of the paintings that he paints onto the sidebars of his completed canvases. These serve as wayfinders—clues offered after the viewer has first encountered the visual image. The effect of this can be equally destabilizing as it is expansive. For instance, we might first encounter Escaped Pet-Bird as a kind of devotional image to an exotic, if not slightly awkward-looking bird, but after reading the title, an edge of anxiety creeps in, prompting questions around the life the bird lived before its newly acquired freedom and how it might cope now within the wild. Carefully Arranged, Night Time, Do Not Disturb depicts a dreamy scene of flowers and plants blowing in a midnight breeze, perhaps recalling memories of lying in the grass and heavily scented gardens at night. But again, when we read the title, we're drawn to the carefully constructed nature of the painting and to a feeling of precariousness. There are less complicated moments of pleasure, too. Sleeping with Mama is drawn from Meisner's images of his daughter crawling into bed with his wife when he is traveling, evoking the feeling of comfort and protection that sharing a bed with a parent can bring, while Lemon for gin and tonic or sorbet calls on our shared sense memory of the fruit's familiar citrus tang and the joy and remembrance of indulging. To Meisner, each work is only the first line of a story; how it continues—and where it leads—is left to us.

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