ROTATIONS | Summer 2023 | MORTEN KLITGAARD

About

Volcanic-like, eroded and weather beaten, Morten Klitgaard’s blown glass obscures the typical seductive beauty of the medium in favor of expressive qualities more typically associated with fine art than decorative glassmaking.  Exploring notions of place and reflecting on the profound effects of nature on both the landscape and its inhabitants, his work echoes the harsh terrain of his youth. His sensibilities were formed growing up in the severe northern Danish coastal climate. Surrounded by rugged, wild nature and a consistent westerly wind, the young artist-to-be learned to appreciate very small details which defined the austere beauty of a barren landscape.

A graduate of the Royal Danish Design School on Bornholm where he studied with American artist Jack Wax, Klitgaard was originally introduced to the medium by glass maker Leif Vange in his hometown of Lønstrup.  Klitgaard also trained with internationally renowned glass artists Tobias Møhl and Dante Marioni. His work has been shown primarily in Europe where it is held in private collections as well as at public institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, United Kingdom,  The New Carlsberg Foundation, Denmark, Collection Embrechts Ryckaert, Belgium, The Danish Art Foundation, Denmark, the Glass Museum Ebeltoft and the Bornholm Art Museum in Denmark.