A sheep’s head rests on a platter, eyes narrowed,

its tongue hanging limply over the edge. Jørgen Haugen

Sørensen’s affinity for animal motifs has shaped his

contribution to the Normann x Brask Art Collection – an

imposing ceramic platter appearing with both violence

and sentiment.

As a young man, Haugen Sørensen worked for a time at

a slaughterhouse, and it was his impressions from this

place which later inspired his series ‘We Eat, They Feed’

from 2006 (Galleri Nørby, Copenhagen), consisting of

ceramic platters that feature animal motifs. It is in this

series that we first encounter the sheep, which now

reappears in his piece for the Normann x Brask Art

Collection.

Referencing the ancient Incas, who decorated their

ceramics with animal figurines, Haugen Sørensen sets

out to bring a bit of artistic verve back to our streamlined

tableware. His platter combines use and aesthetics,

uniting the dead animals we serve with the ornament

of a slaughtered sheep. With this correlating still life of

meat on meat, Haugen Sørensen draws our attention

to the reality of what we eat. Significant in size and

lifelike in its depiction of the animal, the platter attains

a renaissance-like feel, while the choice of a white and

slightly transparent glazing lends a poetic quality to

the piece.

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