Utilizing the inherent connotations of LEGO as a product and an artistic medium, the exhibition explores themes related to capitalism, climate and plastic consumption.

While LEGO is often associated with childhood and play, the exhibited works denote the underlying symbolism of this material: the omnipresence of plastic in our lives, it’s petrochemical fabrication and the powers that protect and profit from this mode of production.

Søren Krag is a Danish artist currently based in Bergen, Norway. Throughout his artistic journey, Krag has focused on digital tools, starting the exploration of what he terms ‘digital painting’ with programs like Microsoft Paint.

This digital tool became a springboard for developing his unique visual language. Krag approaches his projects in two steps: first designs are developed digitally, and then translated into physical form.

In addition to fully ready-made plastic objects, the exhibition features digital projects realized as sculptures built with LEGO. Utilizing the inherent connotations of LEGO as a product and an artistic medium, Krag explores themes related to capitalism, climate and plastic consumption. While LEGO is often associated with childhood and play, Krag focuses attention on the underlying symbolism of this material: the omnipresence of plastic in our lives, it’s petrochemical fabrication and the powers that protect and profit from this mode of production.

Krag acquires his LEGO bricks second-hand and has noticed a recurring pattern: a great number of bricks bearing the logo of the “Shell” Oil company in addition to numerous bricks marked “Police.” This observation forms the basis for the irony Krag seeks to highlight: these seemingly harmless toys can also symbolize the insidious corporate presence in our lives from an early age. Krag’s works thus challenge viewers to reflect on how play and industry, aesthetics and politics merge in art and everyday life.
The exhibition serves as a continuation and further development of its first iteration: ‘Oligarchy Dopamine Rollercoaster’ taking place at SKOG art space in Oslo 2024.

Søren Krag

Søren Krag is a Danish visual artist based in Bergen, Norway. Krag works across a spectrum of disciplines, with a particular focus on the interplay between tactile and digital tools. He is deeply engaged with aesthetic ideas of symmetry and ornamentation, themes that have permeated the history of art and craft, traveling both historically and geographically across different civilizations and cultural regions of the world.

A significant part of his practice involves creating digital ”paintings” using relatively simple software. Through this work, he seeks to use the ”limitations” of these respective methods and media as an aesthetic starting point.

As part of an ever-expanding material study, Krag explores the fundamental indexical and ethereal nature of patterns, which exist beyond any given physical form. Of particular interest to him are the many parallels between the grid system of the digital pixel and traditional crafts such as weaving, embroidery, and mosaic. Through his practice, Krag examines the thresholds between these two worlds.

Krag’s work demonstrates the warmth, texture, and expressiveness that are achievable within the digital domain.