VIGELAND + MUNCH BEHIND THE MYTHS - starting 3 october 2015 Oslo

Edvard Munch: Blossom of Pain ("Quickborn"), 1897

Photo @ National Museum of Art, 

Architecture and Design

Gustav Vigeland,

Hell II (1897), bronze. 

Photo @ National Museum of Art, 

Architecture and Design

For the first time a major dual exhibition will be devoted to two giants in the history of Norwegian art, Edvard Munch and Gustav Vigeland. Their work, development and ambitions have many interesting traits in common, which will provide the public with an opportunity to discover new connections between the two. More at: Munch Museum in Oslo

Observingarts: Gerda Wegener exhibition at ARKEN Museum of Modern Art 7 November 2015 – 16 May 2016

Gerda Wegener, A Summer Day 

(Einar Wegener behind the easel, Lili nude, Elna Tegner with accordion, publisher wife Mrs. Guyot with book), 1927.

 Photo: © Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers 

The painter and illustrator Gerda Wegener aroused a furore in Denmark, but was fêted in Paris because of her sophisticated line and her elegant portraits of women. In November ARKEN Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen presents the biggest exhibition so far of works by the pioneering artist whose life and works strike a chord in our own time. More at ARKEN

Observingarts: just for the decaying beauty of it:

Steinar Christensen – Kerberos Total 2014

 More at: www.willas.com

Observingarts: Willas Contemporary - inaugural exhibition by Steinar Christensen - Still Lifes.

Steinar Christensen – Kerberos Past 2015

Steinar Christensen - Still Lifes

8th of October - 4th of November 2015

Christensen’s work opens for both paradoxical constellations and existential situations. And they suggest that even a still life can serve as a silent echo of the state of our civilisation. His works are included in numerous private and museum collections, such as the National Gallery, the Henie Onstad Art Centre, Oslo Municipality’s Art Collection, Statoil Art Collection and the Norwegian Cultural Council. More at Willas

Observingarts: is art the new religion?

Is Art the new religion? Monumental buildings housing museums and galleries are reaching for the sky in Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Astrup Fearnley Museum, the new Munch Museum and Lousiana - yet others to follow.  Corporate headquarters are strutting with expensive art. Some, seldom seen. Art wrapping, monetary and cultural exchanges alongside cultural cathedrals. The show is getting more and more spectacular, including huge tabs and donations. Whith so much at stake, is art becomming more sacred than it really deserves?  Silence penetrates the exhibition halls. Silent worshipping, art is the new religion. Distance to the  "non believers" increases. Private collectors are playing in, combining monumental buildings, private art collections and a well- developed sense for business.  Public and private wealth management is the core of the equation. It cloaks art in a kind of religious mysticism. Is art in itself becoming just an variable? 

Recommended weekend reading. Damien Hirst: from  artist to curator. 

Observingarts: Charlie Roberts at SUNDAY Art Fair, London‏ 14 . 18 october.

Charlie Roberts will present a solo booth of new paintings, works on paper and around 400 new painted ceramic objects. Charlie Roberts, (1983), Kansas, USA, lives and works in Oslo, Norway, New York and Los Angeles.

Observingarts: last chance to take a look at Jackson Pollock, "Blind spots"

Jackson Pollock, 

Yellow Islands 1952 

© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation ARS, 

NY and DACS, London 2015.

Last change to see, echibiton ending 18th. of October. 

See program and details at Tate

Observingarts: Love Lundell at Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm

More at Wetterling Gallery

Observingarts: “Architecture in Comic-Strip Form” at the National Museum, Oslo

“Architecture in Comic-Strip Form”, the new autumn exhibition at the National Museum – Architecture, examines the relationship between the medium of the comic strip and architecture to reveal an aspect of the architectural discipline that few people are aware of. Many architects use the comic strip as a form of expression – as a kind of counterpart or supplement to digital drawing. © Alexandre Doucin,Govi. © All rights reserved

Observingarts: Do we see refugees as a ressource in art?

Art is the tears of pain - or can be. There is enormous amounts of suffering going on right now, just outside our front door as refugees pour into Europe. So, (how) does this situation of stress come forward in the expression of art? 

Maybe it is to early, maybe we are to blind to see, maybe it is not time for art in the midst of all the suffering or maybe we have not yet set a scene for this?

I want to promote this initiative by Exile: The Refuge Art project (RAP): 

'Siev-221' 

pencil on paper, 29x21cm.

            

Observingarts: Peter Köhler, To an Unknown Descendant 8.10–8.11 2015

Peter Köhler was born in 1971 in Stockholm, where he lives and works. Educated at the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm (1995–2000). Selected Solo Exhibitions: Galleri Magnus Karlsson (2015, 2012, 2010, 2009), Tobey Fine Arts, New York, US (2006, 2003), Gallery 54, Gothenburg (2005), Botkyrka Konsthall (2004), Brändström & Stene, Stockholm (2002). He has also made numerous public commissions and is currently presenting a large scale art work in the subway of Stockholm.

More at Gallery Magnus Karlsson

Observingarts: Hilma af Klint at Henie Onstad Artsenter 2. oct. 2015 – 3. jan. 2016

Hilma af Klint – the pionér of abstraction: The exhibition at Henie Onstad Art Centre is the largest presentation of Swedish Hilma af Klint paintings. It was first shown at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm and then on an extensive and successful tour around the world. Høvikodden is the last stop on the tour and thus the last chance to see the magnificent works of art for a long time. In Hilma af Klint - abstraction pioneer displayed up to 200 works that have never before been shown publicly.

Hilma af Klint Altarbild, nr 1, grupp X, serie Altarbilder, 1915

Adulthood, Group 4, 1907

Photo: Moderna Museet / Albin Dahlström

© All rights reserved

Hilma af Klint The Ten Largest, no 7. 

Adulthood, Group 4, 1907

Photo: Moderna Museet / Albin Dahlström

© All rights reserved

Observingarts: Frank Auerbach at Tate Britain 9. October

Frank Auerbach (b 1931)

Head of William Feaver 2003

Oil paint on board

451 x 406 mm

Collection of Gina and Stuart Peterson

© Frank Auerbach, courtesy Marlborough Fine

Painter Frank Auerbach has made some of the most resonant and inventive paintings of recent times, of people and urban landscapes. He works every day, constantly returning to a narrow range of subjects: landscapes near his studio in North London and a relatively small number of sitters, whom he will paint weekly. 

Born in Berlin in 1931, Auerbach came to Britain in 1939, just before his eighth birthday, as a refugee from the Nazis. After attending Bunce Court School in Kent, he moved to London in 1947, where he has lived since. 

More at: Tate 

Observingarts: DAN GRAHAM Lecture, "New Works Between Art and Architecture" KADK, Copenhagen October 8 | 2015 | 5 pm

Dan Graham, Half Square / Half Crazy (2004) Como, Italy

	On October 8, Dan Graham will give a lecture at KADK - The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Design and Conservation. The lecture, entitled "New Works Between Art and Architecture", will focus on Graham's recent pavilions and the ways in which he sees them interacting with city planning and their urban environment.   For more information, please click here.

Observingarts: James Armstrong, California hills

We came across this piece at an art market in Palo Alto. The warm, wibrant air with eucalyptus fuming can be felt in Armstrongs depiction of CA hills. Strong, warm colours underlines the composition than really makes you part of the landscape as soon as you look into it. More at: 

http://jamesarmstrongstudio.com/

Bjørn Ransve: Ape / monkey

The monkey was traditionally the companion of the jester and is depicted with them in arts representation of these characters. In Ransves versions, both jester and the monkey are portrayed as lonely figures. While harlequin has mask type. It is first and foremost in the monkey we see the human depth and sensitivity. It is moreover in portrait of the monkey the artist comes closest to his own self-portrait.

Apen var tradisjonelt gjøglernes følgesvenn, og er gjengitt sammen med dem i kunstens fremstilling av disse figurene. I Ransves versjoner blir både gjøgleren og apen fremstilt som ensomme figurer. Mens  harlekinen har maske type. Det er først og fremst i apen vi ser den menneskelige dybden og følsomhet. Det er dessuten i apemaleriene at kunstneren kommer nærmest sitt eget selvportrett.

«Bjørn Ransve», Audun Eckhoff, Orfeus Forlag 2000

Observingarts: a must read! Financial Times interview with Marian Goodman

Lunch with the FT: Marian Goodman

Jackie Wullschlager

Observingarts: New York state of mine no 4

I was walking the streets looking for inspiration:

Observingarts: Jose Dávila "A line is written on every corner"

More at:

Observingarts: Dismaland

Picture: http://www.dismaland.co.uk/

Coming soon… Dismaland Calais.

All the timber and fixtures from Dismaland are being sent to the ‘jungle’ refugee camp near Calais to build shelters.

 No online tickets will be available.

Dismaland

Shana Lutker at Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm

 

WG.77
Shana Lutker
Paul, the Peacock, the Raven and the Dove
October 9 - October 31

WG.Project 04
Love Lundell
Coming Attractions
October 9 - November 14

More at Wetterling Gallery

Ander Zorn under the hammer at Sotheby's

Anders Zorn

A Portrait of the daughters of Ramon Subercaseaux,

Source: Sotheby's

Sotheby’s November 3rd auction of 19th Century European Art in New York include Anders Zorn’s masterpiece A Portrait of the daughters of Ramon Subercaseaux, as well as an important group of drawings by Jean François Millet, including a study for his most celebrated painting, The Gleaners. Major re-discoveries are also featured in the sale, such as Jean Leon Gérôme’s Prière dans la mosque, Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier’s Les Deux Amis, and William Bouguereau’s Young Girl with Grapes, alongside major paintings by John Frederick Herring Sr., Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Alfred Stevens, Julius Leblanc Stewart, Gustave Moreau and Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema. More at Sotheby's