Technical precision and material experimentation operate together in Marie Birkedal’s paintings.

Her working process involves close attention to the behaviour of paint, raw cotton, paper, transparency, absorption, drying time and the accumulation of layers. Some paintings are made from only one or two extremely thin applications of paint. Others develop through hundreds of layers and remain in the studio for more than a decade.

This range does not divide the work into spontaneous and controlled paintings. Both require concentration. A very thin layer can leave almost no possibility for correction, while a densely layered painting requires continuous decisions over a long period of time.

Birkedal describes the relationship to the work through the principle “the work decides — always.” This does not mean surrendering the painting to accident. It means looking closely enough to recognise what the work requires rather than forcing it toward a predetermined image.

Her process therefore resembles a form of sustained physical and visual training. Decisions concerning colour, proportion, surface, density and transparency remain precise even when the materials behave unpredictably.

Experimentation becomes a method of finding information rather than producing effects. Control does not eliminate uncertainty; it makes it possible to work through uncertainty with greater precision.