Bruten Vit

Bruten vit is an ongoing project where I investigate limestone's material and historical connections to painting. At Galleri Arnstedt, a selection of paintings made with variations of gesso is displayed. The material comes from Limhamn's limestone quarry.

Gesso is the white ground of a canvas, and it is used to make the painting surface smooth, sufficiently absorbent and provide a good grip for the paint. Traditionally, it is made from lime or gypsum in rabbit skin glue mixed with water and possibly other additives. They used gypsum in Italy, and lime in Northern Europe because the availability of limestone was greater here. Skåne is very rich in limestone - you could say that the entire landscape rests on a limestone ground.

Limestone, also called chalk, is calcium carbonate that has been formed by shell remains on the bottom of the sea. This means that the limestone's content reflects the environment that existed when it was deposited. The lime in Limhamn's lime quarry was formed approx. 65 million years ago, when the site was a temperate sea, and consists of deposits from algae, shells, bryozoans, crabs, sea urchins and corals. Shark teeth have been found in some limestone layers, and at the end of the 19th century a crocodile skull was unearthed.

During the winter and spring I brought limestone from Limhamn to my studio. I pulverize the stones in a mortar, add hot rabbit skin glue, sometimes other additives, and paint on linen cloths.