John Kørner: Venice Lido Light

While Kørner is celebrated as a colourist, white plays an especially active role, as in Diving Into the Unknown Venezia, in which a figure launches into the starkness of the unpainted world, or in Lido Lagoon, where areas of whitenessstraddle water and air, wrongfooting the viewer, or in Beach Matter, where a void reads as the body and legs of a beachgoer whose putative head bleeds into the colours of a setting sun. Throughout, Kørner alludes to optical or meteorological effects – from solar flare to Instagram filter – further inviting us to question the veracity of his mirage-like imagery.

Problems also appear as sculptures, created in collaboration with the master glassmakers of Murano. 

Three problems in total is an especially characterful trio of Campari-coloured forms that seem to lean woozily on each other for support, while the amber forms of Three problems as one are nested like Matryoshka Dolls, one contained by another: ringing with beauty, cut through with unease.