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3/7/2009

Norwegian Summer

Galerie Gabriel Rolt, Amsterdam

GALERIE GABRIEL ROLT is pleased to present new works of four young Norwegian artists: Kristin Nordhøy, Ane Mette Hol, Toril Johannessen and Stian Eide Kluge. Each has a scientist-like rigor and complexity in the research and development of a work. Their practices combine a highly conceptual and theoretical process with an emotional, human involvement, which frequently relies on a high level of craftsmanship.

Kristin Nordhøy (Oslo, Norway, 1977) will present three recent drawings and a site-specific wall-piece consisting of masking tape and black acrylic paint. Her drawings are severe, intense, monumental works. The lines and shapes accumulate into abstract, almost sculptural structures. Though it has a formalistic appearance, the hand of the artist – the direct physicality – is always apparent in Nordhøy’s work.

In ‘12 Color Drawing’ by Ane Mette Hol (Bodø, Norway, 1979) she has created an illusion of a grey cardboard. It appears to be a piece of cardboard leaning against a wall. Blank, unadorned, it bears the hallmarks of abstract, minimal sculpture. The object, however, is no ready-made; it has been created entirely by the artist. Two white cardboards have been joined in order to get the right thickness and Hol has used chalk. charcoal, pencil and 12 coloured pencils to recreate the surface of a cardboard

Hol pursues this contradiction – of investing large amounts of time and craft into making something that appears entirely manufactured – throughout her drawings. She often reproduces books and printed pages, capturing even the blemishes of the paper and faults in the printing. Hol is exploring the limitations, effects and possibilities of mechanical and personal reproduction. In Duplication (After Xerox Untitled #2), Hol has reproduced duplicates of failed Xerox copies left behind at a copy machine, each and one of the 8 almost identical copies has been meticulously drawn, she has thereby also reproduced the imperfections of the copy machine. Galerie Gabriel Rolt will show 4 of this series of 8 drawings.

Stian Eide Kluge (Oslo, Norway, 1977) inhabits a similar space in relation to drawing. He shares with Hol a focus and meticulous attention to detail, and often reinterpretations of existing materials – from found or private photos and other artist’s works. The intentions in these densely worked pencil studies, however, are more emotional, idiosyncratic. In an ongoing series he has made a cycle of drawings relating to his father and his recent death. In one work, Kluge has remade a watercolor his father did as a 12-year-old child. All tough the scenario is the same, the altered version displays a different time and situation. Kluge is using drawing almost as therapy – as a cathartic, informative act.

Toril Johannessen (Harstad Norway, 1978) made ‘Variable Stars’ as an enquiry into a group known as The Harvard Computers – unqualified women who were employed by Harvard College Observatory in the early twentieth century to process astronomical data. Though the women were considered cheap, accurate labour, they went on to make many important findings and theories as a result of the data they collected. Johannessen takes their theories of measuring distance in space as the starting point for this work. Using the original archive of photographic plates – stunning images of light emitted from stars – alongside growing crystals, an array of telescopes and suite of drawings, ‘Variable Stars’ inhabits a space between art instillation, museum exhibit and laboratory.

These artists are intrigued and inquisitive about their lives, histories, surroundings. Their works stray between the realms of art, science and personal biography, making visual interpretations of ideas, resolutions, concepts that are often abstract and intangible. For both the viewer and artist, these works carry an awe and wonder at the process and content.

Image: Ane Mette Hol

Opening reception: Saturday, 04 July 2009, 17.00 hrs

Galerie Gabriel Rolt
Elandsgracht 34 - Amsterdam

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