The formal focus of Christer Glein's painted universe has for a number of years referred to a manipulation of contrasts, primarily in terms of his technique of painting. At the same time, he has a carefully planned coloristic palette, which is used to create surfaces that move actively forward and inward in the painted surface. He creates a play of small vibrations in the layers of brush strokes, and a composition that is aimed to guide the eye around the repeating pattern.
Though harmonically assembled, one can see by closer studies that there is something more under the surface of layers struggling to come out, an underlying layer of paint threatening to come through, or fields of the canvas that go back and forth between figuration and abstraction. The viewer can recognise elements of figuration, such as the shape of faces or bodies that then transition into unrecognisable shapes and shadows.
Gleins works also gives the feeling of an underlying darkness behind the apparent harmony. This emotional expressionism leads the thought to human´s dualistic nature, where the conscious and the subconscious is always fighting for exclusivity.
The exhibition title "Nattmennesket" refers to one of André Bjerke's crime novels written under the alias of Bernhard Borge in 1941. In these books, the characters Borge and Bugge explore the human mind, the subconscious and world of dreams in search of the solution to intricate mysteries of crime, using psychoanalysis as the tools of clarification. Christer Glein’s previous exhibition at BGE Contemporary Art, in 2015, also drew inspiration from the writings of Andre Bjerke, then from the novel “Skjult Mønster”.