“In a way it’s a real life story I’ve tried to talk about, but it’s not from [the] real. Mostly I don’t use models; I just use the idea.” – Kenneth Blom

Kenneth Blom’s paintings occupy an uneasy space between architecture, landscape, and the human psyche. Solitary figures move through industrial environments, empty interiors, and ambiguous urban spaces that feel less like identifiable locations than psychological states. His carefully constructed settings suggest a sense of place while remaining deliberately unfamiliar, creating an atmosphere of distance and uncertainty.

The figures are often caught in moments of movement or hesitation. They walk, pause, lean, or remain still, while their faces are blurred or indistinct. By removing clear individual identity, Blom shifts attention away from portraiture and toward more universal emotional states—loneliness, desire, anticipation, uncertainty, and distance. His figures become vessels through which the viewer can enter the emotional world of the painting.

Architecture is central to this sense of psychological tension. Blom’s structures recall modernist architecture through their geometric forms, diagonal lines, open spaces, and restrained surfaces. Yet they rarely function as straightforward representations of real places. Buildings and interiors appear incomplete, distant, or suspended in time. Their controlled geometry contrasts with the expressive movement of the brushwork, creating a tension between order and instability. Architecture consequently becomes an extension of the figures’ inner worlds: spaces that appear designed to contain people, yet often emphasise their isolation.

Blom’s visual language continually moves between figuration and abstraction. Carefully defined backgrounds are interrupted by broad, sometimes restless brushstrokes, while shifts in colour alter the emotional atmosphere of each scene. Blues, greys, reds, and greens operate beyond simple representation, becoming carriers of mood and psychological tension.

Rather than offering fixed narratives, Blom’s paintings leave their stories deliberately unresolved. His scenes resemble fragments from a film or moments from an unknown narrative, inviting the viewer to complete what remains absent. The indistinct figure can feel strangely familiar, while the anonymous architecture evokes places that seem remembered rather than known. Through this ambiguity, Blom transforms architectural space into psychological space, allowing memory, emotion, and personal association to become part of the work.

ARTWORKS HIGHLIGHTS

Tiger, 1999, oil on canvas, 140 x 160cm

Run, 2023, oil on canvas, 150 x 170 cm

Two figures, 2024, oil on canvas, 69 x 89 cm

INSTALLATION VIEWS

Exhibition Title: Metamorphosis of Vision
Artists: Kenneth Blom
Location: Luisa Catucci Contemporary, Brunnenstr 170, 10119 Berlin
Curator: Luisa Catucci
Jan 17th – March 8th, 2025

SELECTED EXHIBTIONS

His solo exhibitions include The Swimmer, TAD Gallery, Oslo, Norway (2025); Metamorphosis of Vision, Luisa Catucci Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2025); Moment, Bomuldsfabrikken, Arendal, Norway (2024); Silhouettes Unveiled, MF Toninelli Gallery, Monaco (2024); Recent Paintings, Jason McCoy Gallery, New York, USA, and Galleri Dropsfabrikken, Trondheim, Norway (2023); This I Can’t Forget, Fineart Oslo, Oslo, Norway, and Kunstverein Bad Nauheim, Germany (2023); The Theatre of Reality, Luisa Catucci Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2021); Sculptures and Paintings, Galleri Dropsfabrikken, Trondheim, Norway (2021); Illumination, Gallery Haaken, Oslo, Norway (2020); Archetypes, Luisa Catucci Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2019); Intruders, Jason McCoy Gallery, New York, USA (2019); and New Works, Galleri Dropsfabrikken, Trondheim, Norway (2019).

Earlier solo exhibitions include presentations at Muster Meier Gallery, Bern, Switzerland, and Pekin Fine Art, Hong Kong (2017); Maerz Contemporary, Berlin, Germany (2016); Gallery Haaken, Oslo, Norway (2015); Jason McCoy Gallery, New York, USA (2014); Studio Hugo Opdal and Gallery Haaken, Oslo, Norway (2012); Maerz Contemporary, Berlin, and Gallery Haaken, Oslo (2011); Jason McCoy Gallery, New York, and Galleri Bouhlou, Bergen, Norway (2010); Galleri Haaken, Oslo (2009); Stavanger Art Society, Stavanger (2008); Sotheby’s New Bond Street, London (2007); Ålesund Art Society, Ålesund (2006); Henie Onstad Art Center, Høvikodden (2005); and Galleri 27 and Galleri Haaken, Oslo, throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Selected group exhibitions include Gallery Weekend Berlin (2022); Vagiti Ultimi Museum, Rome (2021); And Guess What, Luisa Catucci Gallery, Berlin, and Galleri Dropsfabrikken, Trondheim (2020); Galerie Lyon Particule, Lyon, France (2019); Studio Hugo Opdal Flo, Ulsteinvik, Norway (2016); Rarity Gallery, Mykonos, Greece (2014); Jason McCoy Gallery, New York (2013, 2011, 2010); Galleri Haaken, Oslo (2006, 2004, 2002); Henie Onstad Art Center, Høvikodden (2003); Galleri Bomuldsfabrikken, Arendal (1998, 1994); Trondheim Art Society (1995); and Oslo Art Society (1994).

Blom has also participated in a range of international art fairs and auctions, including Moordn Art Fair, Guangzhou (2025); Art Karlsruhe and Art Herning (2023); Sotheby’s Auction Vienna and Nagel Auction Stuttgart (2023); Charity Auction Vienna (2021); Art Athina, Athens, Art Fair Positions, Berlin, and Art Karlsruhe (2020); Volta Art Fair, Basel, and Art Fair Positions, Berlin (2019); Art Fair Positions, Berlin (2016); and Theater of Operations, Pekin Fine Art, Hong Kong (2015).