Demetrio Paparoni: Contemporary Chaos at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium
This year's main exhibition at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium is CONTEMPORARY CHAOS and it is curated by Demetrio Paparoni. Paparoni comes from Syracuse in Italy, but today he is living in Milano. He is an art critic and an author in addition to be a curator. He has written many art books which have been published at the well known publish house SKIRA. Recently the book about the Norwegian artist Vibeke Slyngstad was published, written by Paparoni. Morten Viskum is another Norwegian artist who the author found interesting, and in 2016 the book about the artist was published. This book you can read more about here at Samtidskunst.com. (mer…)
Meet the Cornish Artists Zoe James and Andrew Jago
Last summer when I was visiting Cornwall again, I went to an exhibition at the Salthouse Gallery in St. Ives where I met the two Cornish artists Zoe James and Andrew Jago. I found their works very interesting and asked them to talk me through them, and so they did. Zoe James is working with people in different ways in her works, while Andrew Jago is working with landscapes in many ways. (mer…)
Meeting Nordic Contemporary Art at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium in Norway
This year's main exhibition at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium is called: IF YOU DON'T LIKE ART, GOODBYE, FUCK OFF, GO HOME..... The title is a rewriting of the Danish group SUPERFLEX's work from 2008: "If you don't like Danmark /good bye / fuck off /Go home...". No need to go home though, it's a lot of interesting art works to meet, some of them will maybe bring you back in time, while others will put a smile on your face. You will also meet art that communicate in a more serious way, as said many times before; art is a form of communication.
First of all, here are some facts about this multifarious art. The curator for this exhibition is Göran Christenson. For 25 years (from 1987-2012) he was the director of Malmö Konstmuseum (Malmö Art Museum) and he is still a very important man when it comes to contemporary art. From 2013 - 2015 he has, on behalf of private individuals, created a collection of Nordic contemporary art. He himself could decide what to collect, and the criteria he chose were that the artist in one way or another had an attachment to The Nordic. In addition he were looking for artists in the beginning of their career, not having received so much attention. This is in some ways comparable to what Charles Saatchi did in the 90s when he helped many artists that haven't become famous yet to be just that. The artists we are talking about became known under the name of Young British Artists (YBAs), but today many of them are among the most famous artists in the world. Among them we find name like Damien Hirst, Tracey Enim, and Marc Quinn, just to mention a few. Saatchi bought art from them which he exhibited in the very famous exhibition Sensation in The Royal Academy, back in 1997. The difference between Saatchi and Christenson is that when Saatchi bought art with his own money, Göran Christenson bought art on behalf of other people's money. This tells how much they trusted him. The collection is named NORDIC CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION abbreviated to NoCo. In spite of Christenson's searching for unknown artists, we also find well known artists in the collection, like Olafur Eliasson, Elmgreen & Dragset, Fredrik Værslev, Bjarne Melgaard , Sofia Hultén, just to mention a few. This, together with the collection being only a few years old, is what makes it so interesting. As the first place to show this collection, Göran Christenson has chosen Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, an hour with train from Oslo in Norway. He sees this place as the most important place for contemporary art in the Nordic, according to an interview in the Norwegian newspaper Drammens Tidende 12.04.17 . (mer…)
DANIEL AND GEO FUCHS – REALITY CHECK
Daniel and Geo Fuchs are a German couple who have been working together since 1992. They are best known for their conceptual photo projects and now we can meet their art at Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum in Tønsberg, Norway. (mer…)
«Make America Great Again» Morten Viskum as Donald Trump
Morten Viskum and his self-portraits have got a new member; this year's edition is the disputed US presidential candidate Donald Trump. Again Viskum hits the nail on the head in this year's selection in terms of self-portraits. Tuesday the 19th of July, Trump was formally chosen as the Republican presidential candidate, something many people never thought possible. This means that this year's self-portrait is even more relevant than when Viskum made his choice, not even he could well anticipate such an outcome. (mer…)
Meeting South-Korean art at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium in Norway
For norsk trykk her.PLEASE RETURN TO BUSAN PORT
In the main exhibition of the year at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium (VKL); PLEASE RETURN TO BUSAN PORT, we are going to meet 21 artists from South Korea. Therefore it may be interesting to ask if we can find a common identity which is expressed in their works, and how do we approach this art? (mer…)