Ola Jørgen Ness – Atarxia at Gallery Haaken, ending 16.10.2016

Resilience, 2016

Urban Template, 2014

Detail from Asssorted Qualia, 2016

“Resilience”, 2016, acrylic on mdf (30 x 20 cm) is the ultimate painting in the room. I can not free myself from the word "powerhouse" Picture frames holding the energy of the picture within. And the rest: large panels covering walls at Gallery Haaken with Ness’ manic detailed and complex shapes, forms and colours. Urban, organic, meditative, explosive. Who the hell will let their arm connect mechanically and obedient to the creative brain producing a wall of 4 meter x 7 meter (!!) with mind boggling pencil drawings forming intricate patterns in different colours? Ness will, and the result is overwhelming. The idea is to reduce the artist to a human printer or medium through which creativity can flow. And it works!! Mystic, organic and modern, sucking you into the same flow. We had a hard time untangling from Ness organic universe making an exit to the real world. 

Ataraxia (ἀταραξία, "not perturbed") is a Greek term used by Pyrrho and subsequently Epicurus for a lucid state of robust equanimity, characterized by ongoing freedom from distress and worry. The ancient Greek author Sextus Empiricus gave this definition: "ataraxia is an untroubled and tranquil condition of the soul." ^[1] In non-philosophical usage, the term was used to describe the ideal mental state for soldiers entering battle. (From Wikipedia).

Naturally?

“Three visions of landscape” at Galleri A, Oslo. Ending 16^th of October.

These paintings communicate solitude and perspective.
The three, male, artists: Christopher Rådlund, Jon Lindestad Bakken and Marius Moe share their observations of and about nature. Clean, beautiful, distant, solitude in toned down palette. Some motives under a looming sky, other night motives. Nature slumbering under ice, at the doorstep of winter and the coming frost or under a night light moon. Nature as we want it to be? 

Marius Moe, "November" 170 x 120 cm, oil on canvas 

Marius Moe, "November" 170 x 120 cm, oil on canvas , detail.

Jon L.Bakken "Mountain theme II" 50 x 40 cm. oil on canvas

Jon L.Bakken "Mountain theme VI" 70 x 70 cm. oil on canvas

Beautiful. But nature can not oppose culture in a painting.  It naturally becomes loaded representations. A creek running through a landscape that is both distant and near, panoramic and down to details: falling leaves, broken sticks a solitude straw. Eye lead to the horizon, attention kept on details. Or the cabin in the middle of the snow and ice cowered mountains. Small reminiscence of something else, breaking the monotony of unspoilt nature. Nature not untouched, nature going through change. Shifting light, coming frost or decay, a night light sky. What will happen in the next second, will the scene change or stay put?  What will bring about change? Natural beauty at first glance, but looking closer I sense the constructions of inner landscapes by a closer look. Inviting, yet remote. Clean and beauty, still about to change. Pictures that apart from their beauty keep my attentions and makes the exhibit worth wile a visit.  

Observingart: JASPER JOHNS + EDVARD MUNCH at Munch Museum, Oslo

Selvportrett. Mellom klokken og sengen. Edvard Munch 1940-43

The exhibition examines the connection between Edvard Munch's work and one of the truly great names in contemporary art – Jasper Johns. Never before has there been such a comprehensive exhibition of Johns' art in Scandinavia.

Read more 

Observingart: Alex Israel at Astrup Fearnley Museum

In recent years the American contemporary artist Alex Israel (b. 1982, Los Angeles, USA) has attracted considerable attention in the international art scene, both for his paintings and sculptures and, not least, for his infamous interview show As It Lays.

Read more at Astrup Fearnley Museum

Probably the most boring exhibitioin I've ever been to!

Israel leaves me with an absolute void: 

performing a brand produced by brand makers. 

Pop art suddenly lost all its meaning. 

An absolutely uninteresting note from one of Israels actor friends (in a frame !!)
marks the rock bottom.
Art is about something, this is pure nothing - to me.

My whife? She just wanted a sofa as she constantly tried not to fall asleep during the tour.
  

Observingart: news

Large nr 2 (the-flying-burrito-brothers -mix)
Øystein Tømmerås, 2016
200 x 250 cm

ØYSTEIN TØMMERÅS

26. may  –  19. june  2016

www.gallerihaaken.com

JEPPE HEIN

PATH OF SILENCE

KISTEFOS, NORWAY 

Read more at 

Galleri Nicolai Wallner

Jeppe Hein, Path of Silence (2016) Photo credit:  Thomas Reining

Sascha Braunig - Warm Leatherette, 2015 Read more

Observingart: news

Anders A: The Least and Outermost 

14 MAJ–9 OKTOBER 2016

Read more at Moderna Museet

Observingart: Japanese influence on Nordic art

Japanomania in the North:

Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 

Wild Angelica, 1889.

Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Aaltonen

For the first time ever, an exhibition will focus on the wide-ranging Japanese influence on Nordic art and design around 1900. Works by leading Nordic artists such as Gerhard Munthe, Bruno Liljefors, Helene Schjerfbeck, and Oda Krohg will be presented alongside works by European pioneers such as Monet, Gauguin, and van Gogh. 

When the exhibition opens 17 June, it will be shown at two venues, with an emphasis on visual arts at the National Gallery and on design at the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design.

This Japanese inspiration, known in the world of art as Japonism, was the result of Japan opening its borders in 1854, but it first became evident in the Nordic countries from the 1880s on. 

Asymmetry, simplification, stylization, and looser shapes and forms were new stylistic elements that revolutionized both art and the decorative arts, thereby prefiguring modernism in the Nordic countries. Japanese paintings and colour prints were also instrumental in developing the visual arts, while porcelain, ceramics, textiles, lacquerware, and similar goods from Japan inspired designers and craftsmen to develop new aesthetic idioms. The exhibition will show around 400 objects inspired by Japanese design, as well as 200 paintings and woodcuts.

The curators for the exhibition are Widar Halén and Vibeke Waallann Hansen. The curators for the exhibition at the Finnish National Gallery Ateneum, where the exhibition is currently on display, are Gabriel P. Weisberg and Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff.

Bruno Liljefors, Jays, 1886.

Nationalmuseum Stockholm

Read more

Observingart: Kai Fjell

The exhibition at Blaafarveværket (opening 07.05.16) shows how Fjell’s paintings can be seen in the light of today’s art, freed from a specific chapter in Norwegian art history. His art belongs not only to the –isms of the past, but also to our time.

Read more at Blaafargeverket

Observingart: news

Frode Felipe Schjelderup, 

Music red, 2015

Frode Felipe Schjelderup: The Outinside Art.

Opening on Thursday, April 28th at 19:00!

Kunsthall Stavanger

Wetterling Gallery 

presents the following artists at Art New York 2016:

Ylva Ceder

Nathalia Edenmont

Isca Greenfield-Sanders

Astrid Kruse- Jensen

Love Lundell

Shana Lutker

Jason Martin

Amy Simon

Mike + Doug Starn

Pinar Yolacan

GALLERI MAGNUS KARLSSON  

LISA JONASSON, THOMAS BROOMÉ & CARL HAMMOUD

Frieze New York5.5–8.5 2016 

Observingart: news

William Wegman, Inside Outside, 2014, oil and postcard on wood panel.

‘THE DOG REALLY CONFUSED THINGS’

Another side of William Wegman on view in New York.

Read more.

JURI MARKKULA

RGB Jord

April 28 - May 28, 2016

Juri Markkula opening reception April 28, 2016, 5-8pm. 

Carmin Ground 

2015

50x50cm 

Read more: www.larsbohmangallery.com/

Observingart: news

Linn Fernström Staden, 2016 oil on canvas 72 x 125 cm Linn Fernström at MARKET Art Fair  April 22 - 24, 2016 Lars Bohman Gallery Amedeo Modigliani,  Portrait of a Girl, c. 1917  © Tate Tate's 2017 exhibition line-up: among the highlights will be the major retrospectives of Alberto Giacometti, Wolfgang Tillmans and Rachel Whiteread.

Observingart: exhibitions

Image: Eamon O'Kane

This first solo exhibition in the gallery by Irish artist Eamon O´Kane takes its title from an essay written about the artist´s artwork by curator Dan Cameron. 

Read more at Gallery Christoffer Egelund

Image: Eamon O'Kane - Le Corbusier.  Oil on canvas, 120x150cm, 2016.

Observingart: news

Kunsthall Stavanger Director Hanne Mugaas is listed as one of the 20 most influential young curators in Europe by the online art magazine Artsy. In the article Hanne Mugaas is mentioning Judith Bernstein´s exhibition as her most recent career highlight. This exhibition is on view in Stavanger until May 15.

Read the full article here.

Drawing and its market In Paris, three drawing fairs (Le Salon du dessin, Drawing Now and DDESSIN) focus on a medium of prime importance to art history, but unfortunately still somewhat overshadowed by painting, sculpture and even photography. In recent years, however, drawing has enjoyed a significant increase in demand due firstly to a number of superb exhibitions devoted to its various forms and secondly to the growing interest of collectors in this type of art. Read full aticle at ArtPrice

Robots: A futuristic rusty adorable misunderstood man-enslaving Group Show

Submit your interpretation of the theme ”Robot” by April 11th, 2016.

Send all submissions to blankspaceoslo@gmail.com

Blank Space is a creative ambitious space that works to bridge the many gaps in the art world today. From bringing art to an accessible to showing underrepresented art forms in our gallery, Blank Space has become instrumental in a healthier and stronger art world in Oslo.

Observingart: Edgar Degas at MoMa

Edgar Degas, Forest in the Mountains, ca. 1890, monotype in oil on paper, 11¾ x 15¾ inches.

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK, LOUISE REINHARDT SMITH BEQUEST
“Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty,”  at the Museum of Modern Art in New York,
Read more at Art News

Observingart: art updates

Andréhn-Schiptjenko at Art Basel Hong Kong,
March 24-26, 2016

Ridley Howard 

Daylight Window, 2015. 

Oil on linen 31 x 23 in. (78,7 x 58,4 cm).

Read more

RINA CHARLOTT LINDGREN  -  Night night night

17/3 - 17/4  2016

Solgløtt V
Rina Charlott Lindgren, 2016
145 x 108 cm

Read more at Gallery Haaken

Notable artist creates new, extensive work for the National Gallery of Denmark

Ed Atkins, Safe Conduct, 

Production Still, 2016 

See more

Can we change the world by changing our language? 

With a striking line-up of artists, the exhibition Varulv! (‘Werewolf’) investigates the relationship between art, language and politics in a time of crisis. 

Read more at Overgaden

LEONARD RICKHARD

Between War and Peace

12. FEBRUAR – 15. MAJ 2016, NIVEAU 5

Leonard Rickhard, 

Dørgløtt med to figurer i sommerlyset II, 

2005-07

Read more at AROS

Poul Gernes

I can’t do it alone – want to join in?

2 June - 16 October 2016

Poul Gernes, Uden Titel (Maleri af Flag),1965 Emalje på fire masonitter 244 X 244 cm Privateje Foto: Anders Sune Berg Read more at Louisiana HELENA BLOMQVIST Florentine March 17 - April 23, 2016 Sunday Morning, 2016, fine art print, 80 x 110 cm Read more

Observing art: «Hilma af Klint – a pioneer of abstraction», Henie Onstad Art Center.

The first impression entering Henie Onstad is that of being absorbed, overwhelmed. This is bigger than life: format, colors, motive and scale of production. There is this strong feeling of intellectual presence even after her death. She becomes bigger than life as she reenters the art scene. And she becomes even bigger by out-winning her contemporary audience to which she did not want to expose herself.  Everything she did as her life project is really so far outside regularity it deserves full attention. Large canvases with clear, bright colors, organic objects and composition, mystic writing, spiritual messages and heavy symbolism. This is really more about boarding a spiritual universe than looking at pieces of art. Thoughts wander to Spanish surrealists like Salvador Dali and further on to an artist like Antoni Gaudi: subconscious, organic, distinct and heavy laden use of colors. Even art noveau and the use of organic elements come to mind. But Klints work is really about breaking a lot borders. Borders made up by religion, and natural science and how we look and are not allowed to look at the universe. Her work represents a type of stubborn and intelligent opposition that will continue to motivate and influence both art history - and hopefully - even more will it influence contemporary art. Klint opens up to another world of perception, than of the mystic, subconscious and in line with philosophers like Rudolf Steiner and Carl Gustav Jung. 

Colors that can be felt, not explained. Yellow for the male, blue for the female!

Hilma af Klint The Ten Largest, no 7. 

Adulthood, Group 4, 1907

Photo: Moderna Museet / Albin Dahlström

© All rights reserved

The lock if of the treasure chest and hopefully the full impact will be for many years to come.  First of all – the present of a female painter that predicted her works to challenging and provocative to be seen before decades to pass by. What an artist – how did she endure in her own without expecting any type of reward or recognition? Isn’t that substantial motivation for coming artists who want to push borders?  Produced early 1900 century, they surfaced now by the wish and will of Hilma af Klint herself. That is pure visionary skills and in line with her work, a statement of creative control. The message in these pictures is so overwhelming in its universal language, composition and form, it can survive time. She knew, and was definitively right about just that. To absorb it requires a format that allows for stepwise perception by the viewer. Hilma had this control, even with than by giving instructions on how to present works, by example (notice title) not splitting up the “The Ten Largest”, a group of canvases depicting life from conception to grave. I expect more to be said about influence from her contemporary artists. Just a pity her influence was locked down and now reopened - so many years later. She would have changed art, even in her own lifetime.  

This is the observation of Kristian Folkman

More about the exhibition here. 

Recent post here

Have you been there - share your observations!