Kaja Stumpf
‘After the Fall’
2025
Oil on linen
100 x 100cm
Blue Shop Gallery presents
Kaja Stumpf
‘Chaos Carry Me Gently’
3 - 27th June 2026
PV 3rd June 6-8pm 2026
72 Brixton Road, Oval SW9 6BH
Gallery opening hours: Thu - Sat | 12pm - 5pm or by appointment
Gallery talk with Kaja Stumpf and Ocki (BSG Director)
Saturday 6th June 1pm
RSVP hello@blueshopcottage.com
Chaos Carry Me Gently
Down below she lies in darkness. My protector, the ugly I am scared to face. As I open the door, light falls upon her twisted figure, a witness of destruction, helpless and hopeless in a world on fire.
While embers fly I let tears flow, sorrow crash upon my shores. I pray they wash away the pain that looks like heavy cysts on the texture of my soft fabric.
Show me how to hold uncertainty while fear screams for attention. Take my hand while sadness consumes me. Sit with me so I’m less alone. Chaos carry me gently, for this time I will not run.
-
“The work has evolved as exercises of surrender. Letting go of outdated beliefs and the fear of not being in control, and to trust in a power beyond that which I am aware.
Learning to have faith in the process and the path unknown may reveal itself - it cannot be brought to light by brute force or rigid rules.The pursuit of the how and the why, not for the sake of the answer, but for the valleys and peaks of the questions themselves, and the emotions that flow through you as you observe them, rather than judge. The silence after crying and the acceptance after anger, plants a seed for rebirth - the calm aftermath is neutral ground.
Chaos can be volatile, when its course is obstructed, but to move within the eye of the storm is the path of least resistance. Contrasts and opposites exist naturally and simultaneously; Where there is light there is darkness, where there is good there is bad. This body of work is an attempt to face my shadows and accept my contradictions.” - Kaja Stumpf 2026
-
Kaja Stumpf (b.1987) is a Norwegian artist living and working in London. She gained her MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins, UAL in 2022. Stumpf’s recent work examines memory, self-representation and the mind-body connection. She explores the idea of selective memory and cognitive bias as a means of self-preservation and through painting, visualises the rumination of potential scenarios between past and present. Utilising staged images and the photographic family archive, she crops the scene and alters the colours to create a sense of delayed familiarity. Kaja Stumpf has exhibited at London Art Fair and Saatchi Gallery in 2025 and has a growing international collector base. This is Stumpf’s third solo show after 'Only Tears Can Quench These Flames' in 2025 and ‘Pleasure is a far away land’ at BSG in 2024. Stumpf’s work is in collections internationally and in 2025 her work ‘Traveler, There Is No Path (Veien Blir Til Mens Man Går)’ was acquired by FAMM Female Artists of Mougin’s Museum. Kaja Stumpf is represented by Blue Shop Gallery.
hello@blueshopcottage.com for catalogue requests.
-
London Gallery Weekend is the world’s largest event of its kind and unique among global gallery weekend events in the breadth and diversity of its participating galleries. The event takes place over three days, each focusing on a different area of London. Free for all to attend, it provides an opportunity to discover and explore London’s world-class gallery scene, celebrating the city’s diverse cultural and creative communities. An extensive programme scheduled by galleries specially for the weekend includes talks, family workshops and special events. Our long-standing partnership with Art Fund allows for curators from regional art institutions across the UK to visit participating galleries as part of their bursary scheme.
Press
PLASTER ARTICLE - STAFF PICKS
Kaja Stumpf
‘Traveler, There Is No Path (Veien Blir Til Mens Man Går)’
100 x 70cm
Oil on linen
