Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Magnus Gjoen
2021
Limited Edition 41 of 100
Giclée print
30 × 30 cm
Signed and numbered by the artist
From The Allun Lewis Collection
I hate and I love.
Four words that seem completely contradictory.
And yet, perhaps that's precisely why they have survived for more than two thousand years.
At the centre of Odi Et Amo sits the human heart — not the romantic symbol we're accustomed to seeing, but the anatomical reality of it. Wrapped around it are classical figures, lovers and ribbons carrying words drawn from Roman love poetry.
It's unmistakably Magnus.
Something beautiful at first glance, but considerably more complicated the longer you look.
The title comes from one of antiquity's most famous explorations of conflicting emotion. The Roman poet Catullus wrote of experiencing love and hate simultaneously — unable to explain why, only knowing the torment of feeling both. The work also incorporates other classical expressions of love, surrender and desire.
And that's what I find fascinating about this piece.
Because love isn't always the beautifully packaged emotion we'd perhaps like it to be.
It can be irrational.
It can be contradictory.
It can make us incredibly happy and, sometimes, incredibly vulnerable.
Perhaps that's why Magnus chose a real human heart.
Not the perfect ❤️ we've turned into a universal symbol of love, but the complicated, imperfect organ that actually keeps us alive.
Around it is beauty, desire, mythology and romance.
But at the centre is something real.
My copy is number 41 from the edition of 100.
Normally, the edition number isn't what determines my relationship with a work. But I love recording these details because every numbered piece has its own individual place within an edition.
This one is 41/100.
Signed by Magnus and dated 2021, it has become another chapter within a collection that increasingly reflects what draws me to his work in the first place: the collision between classical beauty and contemporary thought.
And perhaps the message at the heart of this particular work is actually quite simple.
Love doesn't have to be perfect to be real.
Sometimes it can be beautiful and difficult, rational and irrational, joyful and painful — all at the same time.
Odi et amo.
I hate and I love.
From The Allun Lewis Collection
Magnus Gjoen
2021
Limited Edition 41 of 100
Giclée print
30 × 30 cm
Signed and numbered by the artist
From The Allun Lewis Collection
I hate and I love.
Four words that seem completely contradictory.
And yet, perhaps that's precisely why they have survived for more than two thousand years.
At the centre of Odi Et Amo sits the human heart — not the romantic symbol we're accustomed to seeing, but the anatomical reality of it. Wrapped around it are classical figures, lovers and ribbons carrying words drawn from Roman love poetry.
It's unmistakably Magnus.
Something beautiful at first glance, but considerably more complicated the longer you look.
The title comes from one of antiquity's most famous explorations of conflicting emotion. The Roman poet Catullus wrote of experiencing love and hate simultaneously — unable to explain why, only knowing the torment of feeling both. The work also incorporates other classical expressions of love, surrender and desire.
And that's what I find fascinating about this piece.
Because love isn't always the beautifully packaged emotion we'd perhaps like it to be.
It can be irrational.
It can be contradictory.
It can make us incredibly happy and, sometimes, incredibly vulnerable.
Perhaps that's why Magnus chose a real human heart.
Not the perfect ❤️ we've turned into a universal symbol of love, but the complicated, imperfect organ that actually keeps us alive.
Around it is beauty, desire, mythology and romance.
But at the centre is something real.
My copy is number 41 from the edition of 100.
Normally, the edition number isn't what determines my relationship with a work. But I love recording these details because every numbered piece has its own individual place within an edition.
This one is 41/100.
Signed by Magnus and dated 2021, it has become another chapter within a collection that increasingly reflects what draws me to his work in the first place: the collision between classical beauty and contemporary thought.
And perhaps the message at the heart of this particular work is actually quite simple.
Love doesn't have to be perfect to be real.
Sometimes it can be beautiful and difficult, rational and irrational, joyful and painful — all at the same time.
Odi et amo.
I hate and I love.
From The Allun Lewis Collection