This cardboard book presents Fredrik Værslev’s Nine Terrazzo Paintings in a concise, twelve-page format. Through these works, Værslev engages with questions of scale, surface, and the tension between abstraction and materiality. The Terrazzo series, known for its references to both architectural surfaces and painterly traditions, plays with the boundaries between painting and object, permanence and process. By translating these works into book form, the publication itself becomes an exploration of these themes, turning the large-format pages into a spatial experience that echoes the monumental presence of Værslev’s paintings.

A key aspect of the book is an in-depth essay by Gertrud Sandqvist, a well-known writer and art historian, who situates Værslev’s practice within a broader historical and theoretical context. She draws connections between his approach and movements such as American Abstract Expressionism, referencing artists like Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and Philip Guston, while also considering the significance of scale shifts in his work. Sandqvist discusses how Værslev’s dollhouse paintings, originally conceived for miniature architectural settings, mirror the strategies of Boîte-en-valise, Marcel Duchamp’s portable museum, where artworks are reproduced in reduced dimensions to create a self-contained world.

The book examines Værslev’s meticulous working process, where layers of house paint and spray paint are built up, erased, and reapplied to achieve a specific visual effect. Unlike traditional abstract painting, his method incorporates external factors such as exposure to weathering, creating surfaces that blur the line between intentional composition and the passage of time. Sandqvist also explores how Værslev negotiates the legacy of modernism, engaging with Clement Greenberg’s theories on form and self-criticism while simultaneously acknowledging the importance of taste, craftsmanship, and painterly illusion.

Designed as both a documentation of the work and a standalone object, this book transforms the act of viewing into a physical interaction, reinforcing Værslev’s interest in the way artworks exist within space. With its exceptionally large format of 47 × 58 cm, the publication becomes an extension of the paintings themselves—insisting on scale as an active element of perception and meaning.

Published with the kind support of Angarde AS and kode.