Folly & pop From the very outset of their collaboration, Randi & Katrine have been interested in a wealth of historical phenomena. Drawing on cultural history and popular culture as well as on devices from pop art, the two artists appropriate imagery and motifs and make them their own. For example, they have modified a building in Søndre Havn in Køge with their The Barn (2015), thereby enabling audiences to experience a shift to somewhere else – perhaps to a barn in America. They found inspiration in the US phenomenon of Barn quilts: quilt patterns painted onto oversized square boards and mounted on barn façades. With their geometric designs these colourful squares are reminiscent of op art – abstract art that emphasises optical effects. Quilt trails are routes that take you past decorated façades, inviting you to view ordinary buildings in new ways.

A recurring source of inspiration for Randi & Katrine is the so-called folly – a decorative, eye-catching architectural element with no practical function, a popular feature of 17th and 18th century landscape gardens. Artificial ruins, Chinese pavilions, and hermit’s cottages are all examples of follies. Original follies were often downscaled versions of real-life features, whereas Randi & Katrine frequently enlarge their subject matter – e.g. their Picnic Basket for Frederiksberg Have (2004).
Artificial grottoes covered in seashells may also be considered follies. Seen in 16th century Italian and French gardens, they also appeared in 18th and 19th century landscape gardens. Such grottoes served as models for Seashell House at Søndre Havn (2015); with its asymmetrical ornamentation it also refers to 18th century Rococo style and to the decorative and symbolic significance of seashells. An early work, The Clam Box (2013), combines inspiration from such grottoes with American roadside architecture, in which buildings are often shaped as the things they sell. Unlike follies, roadside architecture usually serves a practical purpose, but both share a playful approach to scale and an emphasis on decorative effect.

Anna Manly curator of the exhibition "Follies & Faces"

Front : Preliminary works for "Teapot Pavillion"- a public art work for Rosenhaven Nursery Home in Skovlunde. Right Back: Preliminary works for Mural work at Sørø Private School next to model and part of Shawarma house. Left back: Parts of the installation "Orcades".,

Preliminary works for "Shawarma House" .

Front: Preliminary works for "Teapot Pavillion"- a public art work for Rosenhaven Nursery Home in Skovlunde, Back: Preliminary works for "The Barn" - public art work at artroute through Køge. Image and preliminary works for "The Clambox".