People Are Strange: Kasper Sonne

 

 

 

MARUANI MERCIER is delighted to present Kasper Sonne: People Are Strange, the second solo exhibition of the artist with the gallery, opening on 10 September 2026 in Brussels. Elegant and upright, the figures in this new body of work appear at once in harmony with and disassociation from lucid planes of water and sky in the landscape. Looking away in quiet contemplation, the elongated human presence in each work projects an almost mythic quality, as if traversing the space in solitude that feels timeless rather than incidental.

 

The paradox of iconic contemporary outfits in natural settings, together with the spectral light and the luminous palette in this new body of work projects a powerful sense of the instability of the human condition and questions the possibility of connection with another. As the artist notes, “For me, it's always this conflict – it's about displacement. I create these characters that have no obvious reason to be in these environments.”

 

Working on unprimed linen, Sonne applies thinned paint in numerous layers that coalesce into humming, almost shimmering colour fields. Executed after a period of prolonged material experimentation, the works in People Are Strange further extend the tactile quality of the surface by juxtaposing areas of thin pigment seeping into the canvas with energetic gestural passages. In Skull Earring, the sections of thick brushwork delineating the figure intensify her towering presence in the composition. Enveloped in luminous hues of a landscape rendered in a distinctly translucent texture, she appears estranged from the setting, as if emerging from the threshold of the sea in an act of transcendence.

 

The sense of ethereality in Sonne’s figures is amplified by multiple and mysterious sources of light that imbue the works with an almost cinematic quality. In Vampire, the features of the protagonist mark the focal point of the composition, set against the muted glow of the setting moon. Seemingly turning towards external light, his expression evinces a nuanced psychological interiority. Gradually constructing and reworking the features of the face, the artist seeks a kind of empathy and connection to his enigmatic characters, who appear to hover between eccentricity and introspection. Through this delicate tension, Sonne deepens his exploration of isolation and belonging, presenting the human figure as both vividly contemporary and strangely untethered from time.