Molly Palmer

Molly Palmer has a special connection with Hilma af Klint, from whom she repeatedly draws inspiration at various moments in her life. Palmer’s practice weaves together existing forms and narratives from mythologies, esoteric practices, belief systems, and neuroscience with personal biographies and inner experiences. Her cyclical approach is characteristic, as she combines and repurposes older artworks in her new creations. Recognisable are forms of bodily circular systems, such as the nervous system, lungs, brain, and heart.

In The Plastic Ratio, four figures interlace their arms and hands in ever-changing patterns. In a meditative manner, the individuals form intuitive new connections with each other, merging into one whole without words. These compositions then reappear in the sculptures Third Circuit and Nine Nectarines and Other Porcelain (Lattice). The work Third Circuit alludes to the synaptic connections in our brains that enable the lungs to breathe and the heart to pump. The canvases resemble coats of arms and challenge conventional ideas of courage and strength.

The Plastic Ratio is interspersed with the video work Heart Song. In it, Palmer playfully references a personal experience with spirit photography, a genre of photography from the late nineteenth century in which people were photographed with spirits or spiritual entities. Like af Klint, Palmer raises questions about the perception of the world, the visible and invisible, inner and outer worlds. In her sometimes dreamlike and sometimes absurdist realms, Palmer explores what it means to be human.

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Cycle, Portal, Path

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This fall, Nest presents Cycle, Portal, Path: an exhibition that examines how the traces left by the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) affect contemporary art 100 years later. Af Klint lived in a time full of developments and scientific turmoil. Scientists studied nature and dealt with phenomena such as atomic fission and X-rays; discoveries that shaped the world and made the invisible visible.

Cycle, Portal, Path shows that Af Klint’s exploration of the relationship between science, nature and spiritual life is as urgent now as it was in her time. The artists in the exhibition relate directly or indirectly to Af Klint and her views and supplement them with contemporary or futuristic ideas. Through meditative drawings and video installations, abstract paintings and AI-generated images, the artists reflect on new technologies, spiritual movements, ecology and the connection between then, now and future generations.

Cycle, Portal, Path was created in conversation with Kunstmuseum Den Haag and KM21, where the exhibitions Hilma af Klint and Piet Mondriaan: Forms of Life and Tai Shani – Our Hieromantic Objects of Love will be on view simultaneously. A diverse context program has been developed for the three exhibitions. Keep an eye on our website for updates.

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