WOODCUT – Out of Control? | Kastrupgårdsamlingen, Kastrup

An exhibition focusing on the art of the woodcut, featuring prints by Idun Baltzersen, Ragnar Kjartansson and Jan Svenungsson.

Experimental woodcut printmaking is an essential component of Idun Baltzersen’s artistic practice. A series of large woodcuts titled Nordic Design depict interior scenes from Idun Baltzersen’s own home. Her time at BORCH Editions’ printmaking studio marked her first encounter with multi-coloured woodcuts, for which each colour is assigned its own printing plate. 

The three woodcuts Jan Svenungsson created with BORCH Editions between 1996 and 1998 are related to his ongoing sculpture project of brick chimneys installed in public spaces.Over a two year period this idea turned into a tour de force of craftmanship and determination, which expanded the boundaries of contemporary woodcut printmaking. Svenungsson used the photomechanical principle of combining four colours – yellow, magenta, cyan, and black – to create the illusion of continuous colour. Working from photographs of his sculptures, he isolated these four colours and then hand-carved each individual dot in a painstakingly detailed process.

Ragnar Kjartansson’s woodcuts depict graphic, bordering on cliché images of flames in red and yellow against a black background. The subject of fire—a universal symbol for the paradox of destruction and creation—runs like a red thread through Kjartansson’s work. His fascination for flames stems from his childhood. ‘As a child I loved to draw flames, I would draw houses and then put them on fire drawing flames in the windows. One could say that early on it was evident that I was either a psychopath or a romantic.’

WOODCUT – Out of Control? is on view at Kastrupgårdsamlingen, Kastrup until 11 January 2026