Magne Furuholmen: Norwegian Wood Remix

Norwegian Wood Remix
Magne Furuholmen
25.1.-23.2.14
Kunstgalleriet, Stavanger
Oil on canvas, motives based on Beatles song titles

Kunstgalleriet at Madlaveien have been able to attract several high-profile artists lately. This has been a boost to number of visits and apparently also to sales. This exhibition by Magne Furuholmen was sold out on the opening day. Which I think is great, I am really happy for Kunstgalleriet.

At the same time it is not easy do distinguish between a celebrity and his art. The music and cultural achievements of Magne Furuholmen are unconsciously present in my impressions of his paintings. If the artist was the most important, he might just put himself on display, but I tried to approach the paintings without having the artist in mind.



The catalogue claims the artworks are oil pantings on canvas. I find that hard to believe, as it rather seems like coarse wood prints on unprepared canvas, in a limited range of colors. Even the text is on several occations reversed, just like what would happen the first time you make a wood-print. The artist has created an illusion by creating the same features as a print by painting.



The paintings appear like decorative abstracts, but the very instant a letter is introduced, the abstract ceases to impress, and the letter expresses all the importance. Thus all my attention is drawn to trying to decipher what is written on the canvas. This is not that difficult, as the text is also present in the title of the painting. They all are titles of classic Beatles song titles.




For a Beatles-fan strong emotions may be triggered that very instant a song title is mentioned or printed. For others these are just words on a decorative background. In this way the artist creates an illusion of an artwork, while the real art was created long time ago by the Beatles, and is recreated in the mind of the viewer.

For me it would have had more nostalgic impact if titles by the band a-ha was quoted, but that would have been rather awkward in this context.

Vestlandsutstillingen 2014

Vestlandsutstillingen 2014
Den enes brød en annens død
Audar Kantun & Marthe Elise Stramrud, Bettina Hvidevold Hystad & Simon Torssell Lerin, Bjørn-Henrik Lybeck, Bjørn Venø, Cameron MacLeod, Camilla Haukedal, Cato Løland, Ellen Henriette Suhrke & Hilde Skevik, Gitte Sætre, Ingeborg Kvame, Johannes Høie/Johnny Herbert, Kent Fonn Skåre, Kristen Veste Rønnevik, Kristin Austreid, Kristina Kvalvik, Lena Katrine & Heidi-Anett, Linda Larsen, Maren Juell Kristensen, Tove Kommedal
23.1.-13.2.14
Kunsthall Stavanger
Annual group exhibition of artists from West Norway

Every year I have great expectations for the West Coast Exhibition - Vestlandsutstillingen. This is an exhibition of carefully picked artworks from artists related to the West of Norway. It is usually a great opportunity to get aquainted with "new" artists, and new works from artists I know from before. This year's theme was "The bread of one is the death of another". The exhibition contained one bread and several dead artworks, and turned out to be a large disappointment.



More than one third of the artworks had major faults. Some were wrongly credited in the program map, some did not show the video on the screen, and no ipods played any sound. I can understand that things go wrong sometimes, and the caretaker have to fix one or two, but the number of non-function here was just way too large. And this was on a Sunday, the most visited day, one week after the opening. Sadly this kind of bad planning, bad choice of material or plain bad luck destroyed the impression of the actual artworks and overshadowed the mood of the whole exhibition. 

That is too bad, because some of the artworks were really interesting. Here are some of the highlights of which had no or just some faults:


Ingeborg Kvame: AND/LET

A wonderfully simple concept, treads on a canvas are in my imagination turned into a face, with an eyelash just underway.


Gitte Sætre: Morstøv

Sounds from cleaning the house are heard from the inside of a house covered with dust.


Audar Kantun & Marthe Elise Stramrud: Untitled (Soda Water Machine and Hiking Stove) + Personal(ized) Hygiene + Toasty Loaf

The bread of the exhibition, together with equipment of luxury and outdoor living, everyday objects turned into sculptures.


Kristen Veste Rønnevik: Grønn Au Pair

In this box the artist interviews himself about the prospects of a new art project he consider. Sounds like a very interesting idea, but sadly the mac with the video on it did not work.


Kristin Austreid: Closer Apart

Portraits paintings copied from each other, very emotional.


Tove Kommedal: Ivy - et frigjørende troll

Here I could write my worries or faults on a paper, to send to the thrasher throwing it towards the paper troll. The sound did not work and the credit in the program was unfortunately wrong. But I dared to take part anyway, and sent my worries away. They may not have been that heavy, because the machine did not throw them far at all, but it did thrash them, which is most important.


Bjørn-Henrik Lybeck: 40 arbeidstimer

40 hours was spent to cut this rock in two using a manual handsaw. Thus it is not a rock that is on display, but a week's worth of work.


Lena Katrine & Heidi-Anett: Homaging (Gestures) II

Photo of a living sculpture by the artist duo.


Cameron MacLeod: Graffiti Drone

A flying drone has been made able to write graffiti on walls. Or rather spray paint on walls. For it to make graffiti you would need to have a dedicated graffiti writer with a plan, a name tag to paint, and someone to control the drone perfectly. This could be an idea for getting your tag to extreme spots. Thus this artwork is mostly an idea of what is possible. Which is a great idea, and a much better use compared to war drones.


Suhrke & Skevik: Transactions #3

The two artists explore landscapes while tied together with a long rope.


Linda Karin Larsen: Free For All / Cheap For All

A traditional festival in the South is juxtapozed with a sale frenzy in the North.

UPcycle

UPcycle Stavanger
Rune Guneriussen, Karoline Hjort, Riitta Ikonen, Helle Mellemstrand, Atle Østrem, Eline Medbøe, Jonas Daatland, Joran Jacobsen, Maria Sundby, Svanhild Rohdin, Elisabeth Rydland Nilssen, Vibeke Rød Kjøde, Robin Frohardt
Curated by the artist collective Hugprud
9.-26.1.14
Galleri Sult, Stavanger
Upcycling of found materials, garbage used in art

The idea of this exhibition was not only to show how used material or garbage could be recycled to something else, as recycling business report papers into toilet paper or soda bottles into fleece sweaters. The task was to find artists who upgrade the material to be or be part of an artwork. By this the item not only retrieves its value, it gains more value. Just as a rock, a blank canvas or clay are materials for creating art, garbage may be too. It may be garbage from someone else, or the artist's own garbage.

The artists are using materials, doors, machinery and leftovers from the garbage dump, leftovers from earlier art projects and rejected artworks, or even gathered material from individuals.

This is a surprising, entertaining and very inspiring exhibition. The danger is that this inspiration will have you gathering all kinds of items that may be of use some day, like the "Garbage Man" by Ilya Kabakov.



 
Elisabeth Rydland Nilssen & Vibeke Rød Kjøde


Robin Frohardt: Fitzcardboradaldo

The movie "Fitzcarraldo" by Werner Herzog recreated in cardboard in a preview of a full-length movie that will probably never be shown. 


Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen: Eyes as Big as Plates # Halvar + # Astrid

 In workshops the artists have taken volunteers into the nature, creating wonderful headdresses and adornments of natural elements.


Eline Medbøe & Jonas Daatland

In a relay or exchange the artists have been sending items back and forth, each time adding items they happened to have around.


Atle Østrem: Glory days + History/Mystery + Høgspenning livsfare

The personas from a wide range of weirdos are combined with text on found material. Østrem seems to find the person hiding in the material, and even add the story of the person through the textual elements.


Joran Jacobsen: Malapropos + Man måste jämföra + Unraveling

Drawings made on earlier rejected artworks.


Helle Mellemstrand: Dwellings

Bowls made of old quilts. While quilts have a strong usability, the bowls depend on their artistic value, not use value. Items fully usable, but faded and old-fashioned, are transformed into sculptures.


Rune Guneriussen: The heirs motivational speech

A mass of identical items, chairs, lamps are brought as sculptural elements into nature, creating that one magical moment that will never happen the exact same way again.


Svanhild Rohdin: Universal Key

Collected purposeless keys from various people together form a giant key sculpture.


Eline Medbøe: Chewed up and spitted out

Leftover cuttings from a previous art project of clothes, create beautiful abstract motives.


Maria Sundby: RAkett 8 + Long Island Lighman II

The artist made porcelain eyeballs and put them into old fuse holders, creating life of strange beings.

Best of 2013

Here are the highlights of contemporary art in Rogaland according to my subjective opinion:

#10
Geir Egil Bergjord: Private utsikter - Stavanger Kunstmuseum
Mona Orstad Hansen & Egil Bergjord: Pasning - Galleri Gann
Not only performing a great idea of photographing famous landmarks from private homes, but also using these works in a great collaboration with Mona Orstad Hansen's abstract prints.

#9
Juan Andres Milanes: Mind the Gap - Hå gamle prestegard
Fun surprises with objects that appear much heavier than they are.

#8
Sophie Calle: Take Care of Yourself - Stavanger Kunstmuseum
A massive exhibition based on a break-up letter to the artist, with a horde of women engaged in interpreting the text. A well presented exhibition, with the bonus of also showing earlier interesting works by the artist.


#7
Chosil Kil: Man of Tomorrow, Galleri Opdahl
A beautiful exhibition where magic was created as the sculpture floated softly in the air and created celestial music.

#6
Nuart outside
Nuart inside
The streetart festival Nuart continues to amaze, this year with the climax of M-city painting the gigantic control tower at Stavanger airport Sola.

#5
Elin Melberg: Tumour - Stavanger Museum
A one-night-only experience: Elin Melberg's beautiful, scary sculpture adorned a hidden stairway during the open night at the museum.


#4
Bordos Artworks: Architectural mapping - ScreenCity festival / Stavanger Cathedral
During a rainy autumn evening the lightshow turned the facade of the Cathedral into a canvas or a piece of clay. The familiar facade was twisted and churned to wring out wonderful stories.

#3

Lo&Behold - Kinokino

What brings this exhibition so high up on the list was the artist talk by artists E.B.Itso and Adams. Their rare public appearance and their incredible story about creating homes underneath the Copenhagen Central station made this an unforgettable evening.

#2
Inngang 13: Åpen dør - Rogaland Kunstsenter
Selected highlights
A crazy idea with a serious impact: Anyone could submit a work of art to this exhibition, the only limits were in size and 1 item only. The result was a mad frenzy of all kinds of artwork, showing the massive width of the Rogaland art scene.

#1
Estonian Dream:

I don't eat flowers! - Hå gamle prestegard
Milk Method Men - Galleri Sult
Jaan Toomik Solo - Skur 6 / Tou Scene
Little House in the Periphery - Rogaland Kunstsenter
Kristina Norman: artist talk - Rogaland Kunstsenter
Screening program: Little House in the Periphery - Kinokino
A fantastic dream come true: The largest exhibition of Estonian contemporary art in Norway ever, five art institutions in a unique collaboration, and a festival of art. Every exhibition, screening, artist talk and workshop were great, but the greatest of all was the overall celebration of contemporary art, Estonian art, important art.