BERLIN.- Galerie Michael Janssen is presenting Über Ende und Anfang, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Anders Kjellesvik.
Kjellesvik’s painterly practice is an ongoing process of documenting the self. Using thin, fleeting layers of oil and acrylic paint on canvas or wood, he weaves together excerpts from his travels, encounters with people, and visual impressions. A focused color palette – soaring between deep violets, vibrant blues, and vivid greens – unifies the depiction of everyday situations, including nature, interiors, objects, and human figures. Teetering between realism and abstraction, empty places and ambivalent spaces are blend together. Informal portraits of acquaintances in their private spheres or natural surroundings also provide visual material for the paintings, which shift between the intimate and the distanced gaze. The works are thus echoes of these memories and impressions; when displayed together, they create autonomous narratives.
These stories range in focus from the solitary to the manifold. Tree Called Nowhere, based on a pencil sketch of a lonesome growth, depicts a single tree whose trunk appears to be rooted amidst a flowing mix of land and water, set against an ombré blue sky. Hovedøya – inspired by the performative aspects of the French tableau vivant (living picture) and the German Freiluft-Theater (open air theater) – portrays a group of five people dressing up, a moment taken from a trip the artist took with friends to the small island of Hovedøya, outside Oslo. Other paintings show a forest community of tents and plastic covers, based on a temporary camp for homeless people in Nordmarka, Norway, and a friend of the artist observing nature. The abstraction of figurative motifs manifests a poetic reflection of personal journeys and is often characterized by volatile and transparent brush strokes. A combination of distorted landscapes, fragmented geometric shapes, and sinuous curves imbues each work with an otherworldly, dreamlike quality, effectuating an overall feeling of wanderlust.
Anders Kjellesvik (b. 1980 in Stord, Norway) lives and works in Berlin and Oslo. His artistic oeuvre consists of paintings, sculptures, installations, and performance, and employs a number of different techniques in shifting formats and mediums. Kjellesvik’s work has been shown internationally, notably in his recent solo exhibition Untitled (New Prints), Trykkeriet, Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Bergen, Norway (2013) and in his curatorial project How green was my valley, Vevringutstillinga, Norway (2014). Upcoming projects include a solo exhibition at Haugesund Billedgalleri (Haugesund Museum of Fine Art) in Norway in 2015.
Recent group exhibitions include 7th Norwegian Sculpture Biennial, Vigelandsmuseet, Norway (2013); tegnNEARFAR, Vestlandsutstillingen, Norway (2013); drawNEARFAR, Winchester Gallery, England (2013); Undercover: A Dialect, VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, Ireland (2013); Welcome to the Neighbourhood, Askeaton Contemporary Arts, Limerick, Ireland (2013); and The Circle and the Square, Gruneløkka Kunsthall, Oslo, Norway (2013).
In addition to his individual practice, Kjellesvik works collaboratively and also curates exhibitions and projects. Since 2004, he and fellow Norwegian artist Andreas Siqueland have been working together on their collaborative project aiPotu. The work with aiPotu is based on travels and social situations, and often takes the form of unique, temporary interventions in the public realm. aiPotu have exhibited at the Museo d’Arte Orientale, Torino (2012); Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2009); 16th Biennale of Sydney – Revolutions Forms That Turn (2008); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2008); and Kunsthallen Nikolaj, Copenhagen (2007), among other venues.
