Alien territory in Trondheim, Norway
At PoMo, the museum of contemporary and modern art in Trondheim, Norwaythe solo show for Ken Price, Alien Terrain (2026), fills its halls with the experimental work of the late American artist ceramic sculptures. The interior of the space is almost completely white — aesthetically unifying the ornate Ionic columns, exposed plinths and arched windows. When Price’s works, balls of ceramic that swell and stack in a fantastical mix of colors, are arranged within the space, they evoke an otherworldly quality that embodies the particular methodology he brought to the medium.
Ken Price – Alien Terrain, PoMo, Trondheim, 2026 | all installation view photos by Uli Holz / PoMo, Trondheim © Estate of Ken Price
Science fiction and alien creations
The juxtaposition is ripe for comparisons to surreal science fiction cinema, in which the ancient meets the modern. Reminds me of Kubrick 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) or Jodorowsky Mount Athos (1973). His price Cheeks (1998), created with fired and painted clay, shows his peculiar attention to form. The work at Pomo it is made of smoothly undulating wrinkles and bumps. With its mottled finish, seen in the distance as a peach, it joins to look like a certain flesh. It brings to mind something alien, with navel-like cavities or the swirling entrance to a strange ear. Narrative feels like a natural next step from this work as it straddles the real, begging the question: where did this come from?
Lumps and layers in ceramic
It feels like pieces of it could have emerged from another planet. In Crookton (2006), thick silver puddles are piled on top of each other, reminiscent of rolls of fat on a chubby creature or some alien goop gathering like a stalagmite in an alien cave. Walking around the piece, new swirls and grooves emerge, giving an insight into the artist’s mind. Harnessing the versatility of ceramic and subverting the expectations of form, Price fashions objects that challenge the notion of what the medium could be.
Creating the speckled finish
The piece Chicton (2009) is one of the clearest demonstrations of Price’s technique. Looking at its smooth finish, the colored dots are repeated in different sizes across the surface of the sculpture. To achieve this, the artist applied layers of different colors before sanding them down to reveal the layers beneath, creating a dynamic rhythm of stains that gives a vibrant texture to his works.
