In Troels Carlsen’s exhibition Alt flyder – Everything flows – nothing is permanent, and everything is connected. Flora and fauna are quite literally intertwined in Carlsen’s large tableaus, often painted with acrylics on intricately collaged archival material sourced from antiquarian bookstores.
Dynamic, dancing skeletons with bodies of radiant green springy stems and lush leaves sprout blackberries and pink wildflowers, surrounded by bumblebees. Bodies, bees, flowers and fruit are interdependent in an ancient biological choreography. There is a current of freedom flowing through the works. Birds, flowers, ladybirds and butterflies are harbingers of transformation. The compositions are in flux. In one work, an eminent butterfly overshadows a human couple in the composition, while two blooming flowers rise above like floral fireworks. A subtle visual correction to our classic anthropocentric understanding. In Carlsen’s work we are not merely co-dependent on the surrounding world; we are the same – we are change.
As the title suggests, there is an intuitive connection to Heraclitus’ and the Zen Buddhists’ reflections on how no one ever steps into the same river twice. This idea offers a way of engaging with the world — and ourselves — in a less fixed manner, one that accepts and even embraces impermanence.
These are not new themes in Carlsen’s practice. over the past two decades, he has explored humanity’s relation to the universe, our entangled coexistence with other species and the natural world -or too often, lack thereof. While working with Alt flyder, Carlsen discovered (or was discovered by) the newly published book Alting er altid i bevægelse – Everything is always in motion - by Danish philosopher Morten Grønborg. Its central thesis runs “Everything started in the singularity. Life originated in the cell. Consciousness emerged from the brain -and that is how we created societies and civilisations. The book seeks to situate humanity within a holistic narrative capable of deepening our understanding of our origins, the climate crisis, biodiversity, and humanity’s place in the broader web of life.
The book resonated with Carlsen’s instinctive practice and became an integral studio companion during the making of the exhibition. Interwoven ideas manifested in interwoven works. While themes of ecology, biology, time and existence can sometimes feel dogmatic in this context. Alt flyder has an open and original musicality. Every work resonates with the next. We are invited to step in and seek - fragmented, playful and open ended - to wander and wonder through visual portals and plunge into the cosmic sea.
