Cart
Ligfærd is a new exhibition of works by Danish artist John Kenn Mortensen, whose exquisitely detailed drawings transform childhood storybook imagery into scenes of gothic unease.
Join our online preview list for early access to the artworks and pre-sales.
Opening reception: Jul 25th, 5 - 8pm. This is a free event. As Beinart Gallery is a licensed venue, any minors attending the opening reception will need to be accompanied by a responsible adult.
This exhibition will run from Jul 26th - Aug 16th 2026, and will coincide with Adam Elliot's Melancholy and Marmalade , Jessica Ng's I am Home and Jale Soysal's Soft Mutations.
Best known for his detailed drawings on Post-it notes in his “Sticky Monsters” series, Mortensen body of work is a classic nightmare realm: haunted houses, lonely children, darkened windows, forests, bats, clowns, candles, and impossible creatures that crowd the edges of the world. His drawings feel at once nostalgic and deeply uncanny, recalling the atmosphere of old fairy tales, folklore, Victorian illustration, and children’s books turned slightly rotten at the seams.
Part of the dread Mortensen’s work evokes is in this return to childhood, when threats of monsters loomed large, and imaginations ran wild in the dark of a childhood bedroom. The universal experience of being a tiny child in a vast, unknowable world, when threats took on much more fantastical forms, looking a lot less like run-of-the-mill adult anxieties. His linework, the frantic, obsessive detail, only reinforces this feeling of panicked spiralling.
Some of the works feel like climactic storybook pages, revealing a single beast, whilst others are overwhelmed with monsters - ghosts and ghouls occupying every available space on the page. These creatures, whilst menacing, are also funny, grotesque, and oddly tender, suggesting they’re occasionally misunderstood at first glance, less devils and more curious inhabitants of a parallel childhood realm where fear and wonder combine.
Born in 1978, John Kenn Mortensen is a Danish artist, animator, writer, and director based in Copenhagen. By day, he creates and directs children’s television; by night, he conjures intricate worlds of monsters, ghosts, ghouls, haunted houses, and uneasy childhood nightmares. Working with pen-and-paper, Mortensen balances horror, humour, folklore, and fairytale wonder, captured in delicious, meticulous detail.