Anne Kristiansen & Anne Helen Robberstad
28.-30.11.14
Studio 17, Stavanger
Video stills, paintings
I am quite surprised by a change of both topic and technique by Anne Helen Robberstad. Last time I saw her artwork was videos of farmers at Jæren shown at Hå gamle prestegard. This time it is black&white video still photos of suburban life. I see a single woman waking up in her apartment high up in one of many apartment blocks, everything is clean and empty, nobody else is around. She looks out from the balcony and goes down to the ground to look up. She even makes some soap bubbles.
This may appear as dystopic suburbia, an environment many consider too sterile, inhuman, featureless, grey, with giant cupboards to stuff people into. But others, myself included, consider this as the best way of living, it offers the possibility of a view from high up, privacy, and claims little area per person, leaving more space for green area around.
I am not sure what the artist's opinion of this is, but it does not matter, as long as I may make my own story. This may be a story about lonelyness or a life without meaning, but it may also be a story about freedom and tranquility.
This is a double exhibition where two artists have been working together. But while one part is one story in many pictures, the other part is many stories in many paintings. Anne Kristiansen displayes a vast number of small paintings with abstract motives, and some papers also contain text.The number of paintings is larger than what would cover all the areas, and thus quite many paintings are stocked in piles. It is up to you if you want to read each part of the story by flipping through the pile, or if you imagine yourself what might be hidden in there judging from only the visible edges.
