Baroque Painting from Antwerp

So, Easter Sunday was a calm and relaxing day, and I went to the National Gallery in Oslo to check out an exhibition they are having there - which still will be up until 22nd of May:

Rubens – van Dyck – Jordaens. Baroque Painting from Antwerp

The museum is divided into six different sections with different themes - Religious and Allegory, Mythology, Portraits, Daily life in Antwerp, "City, land and ocean" and Still life

In addition to Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jordaens, 15 other masters are presented, among them Jan Breughel the Elder, Jan Fijt, Theodor Rombouts and Frans Snijders.

Seeing that Rubens (1577-1640), van Dyck (1599-1641) and Jordaens (1593-1678) were the three masters that brought prestige to the Antwerp School of Painting, there is no doubt that this is an interesting exhibition.
Thus, two of the more particular paintings, were "A concert of Birds" by Frans Snyders (1579–1657 - Also know as Snijders) and "Bouquet of Flowers in a Sculptured Vase" by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625). They seemed kind of "out of place" compared to the other paintings that were exhibited, but nevertheless gave life the exhibition itself.

The portrait of Frans Snyders and his wife by van Dyck was stunning, and Venus Frigida by Jacob Jordaens was the one that reached out to me the most, taking interests in consideration.

I have to say, it was a rather interesting trip which gave me several flashbacks to the time I was in High School and had art history.
We had a teacher that had traveled a lot, and therefore had pictures of almost everything we ever talked about in class - except the things you cannot take pictures of anymore mind you. She showed them on slides in class, as she told stories regarding seeing the paintings and such live - being able to study the details and the craftsmanship.
It is not difficult to understand her fascination regarding traveling around seeing the paintings in real life after an exhibition like this.

And there is one - actually two - conclusions I can make from this trip:
I yet have to see a photography of one of these paintings that justifies them, and if you are in Oslo before May 22nd, you ought to pay the national museum a visit!

Links:
The National Museum homepage
Jacob Jordaens on Wikipedia
Rubens on WikiPedia
van Dyck on WikiPedia
Frans Snyders on WikiPedia
Jan Brueghel the Elder on WikiPedia

Fin Serck-Hanssen

Selected works by the Norwegian photographer Fin Serck-Hanssen (Born 1958) can currently be seen at the Henie Onstad Art Center at Høvikodden, Norway.
The exhibition is ongoing between 24th of March and 29th of May 2011, so if you are in Oslo between these dates, get on bus 151 from Oslo Bus terminal (which departures every 15 min during daytimes) headed for Rykkinn, and get off at Høvikodden, and check it out. The trip is only 25 min, so you'll be there in no time.

Fin Serck-Hanssen had his first solo exhibition in 1983, and is still going strong.
Already in the 70s, he was working as a photographer for the Norwegian music magazine Nye Trakter, and have been working with great names as Bruce Springsteen, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Divine, FGTH and Nina Hagen - as well as more obscure punk bands.
Through his career, he has also contributed in/published a total of 6 books, wherein "Homage to Nora" in cooperation with Yoko Ono based upon Henrik Ibsens novel is one of them.

Another book-project - "Normalizing Judgement" - interpreters the Norwegian prison culture through images/artistic illustration and place descriptions of 8 Norwegian prisons. The result is a book that questions the culture, and how this aligns with the Norwegians society, and its reputation as including, understanding and forgiving.
Sadly, I yet have to get a hold of the book, so I cannot give a personal impression of it, but it can be ordered from the publisher Teknisk Industri AS
There you'll even be able to buy some of his prints unframed for the price of NOK 4.500,- (€580/$840).

Fin Serck-Hanssen is a man with a lot of interesting photographies over the years, that is for sure. Check out his galleries on his homepage.

Bacon and Warhol

Francis Bacon (1909–1991) and Andy Warhol (1928–1987) in one exhibition?
yes, indeed it can happen.

The Norwegian museum Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art will make this happen with their exhibition "Surrounding Bacon and Warhole" which will go on 5th of May 2011 and last until 25th of September 2011.

Andy Warhol (Born Andrew Warhola August 6th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was one of the leading artists in the Pop Art-scene.
He's known as avant-garde filmmaker ,Record Producer, commercial designer, author, and not to forget painter.
Andy Warhol was credited as a producer on The Velvet Underground & Nico, which was a self titled LP that have come to be know as the banana album due to the design.

He joins the line of the renowned painters Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-August Renoir, Gustav Klimt and Willem de Kooning with achieving the benchmark "Selling a painting for $100.000.000", which he achieved when his canvas titled "Eight Elvises" from 1963 was sold. The transaction was reported in 2009, so sadly post mortem.
His merit list is way to long to be mentioned here, but as he was an awesome man, I suggest that you read more about him on WikiPedia as well as check out some pictures on Google Image Search


Francis Bacon was born on October 28th 1909 in Ireland.
His breakthrough came in 1944 with his triptych (A painting divided in three parts, hinged together and folded) Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (Tate Collection homepage).
He was a figurative painter "known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery."
Once again, check out his page on WikiPedia and Google Image Search

And check out the presentation on Astrup Fearnleys webpages, and do check out the exhibition between May 5th and September 25th!

Dan Colen - Peanuts

So, Thursday evening was the opening of Dan Colens exhibition "Peanuts" at the Astrup Fearnley Museum.
This is his latest and biggest exhibition so far.

I arrived a bit late, so the artist talk had already begun. Curator Hanne Beate Ueland was doing the interview, which was a nice one.
She seemed a bit tense from time to time though, and I got the feeling that she had a set of questions she had to get through no matter what. For Dan Colens sake, he didn't seem all to comfortable at the end of the artist talk, and was rather satisfied when it was over.
But it was an interesting and good interview in total, and we got a good feeling about Dan's thoughts regarding his art.

You can see an interview in two parts at Astrup Fearnley site: Part 1 & Part 2

After the Artist talk, we were informed that there would be a 15 minutes break, where we were welcome to enjoy some wine and mingle, which always is nice of course.

After the break, we were all seated again - well, at least the ones that were lucky enough to get a seat, as it was crowded way beyond the number of available seats.

Then curator Gunnar B. Kvaran held a minor speech introducing the art and artistic life of Dan Colen, and after a while presented Dan Colens good friend Aaron Bondaroff a.k.a. A-ron, the man behind the brand "aNYthing" (An awesome article about him in the NY Times)

A-ron held an awesome speech accompanied by an image reel that was showing in the background. As he said himself, he had asked several friends of Dan Culen to share some images, as he wanted to present the man Dan, and his life, not only the art he makes. The speech was awesome, and I figured that Aaron Bondaroff was a man I wanted to learn more about, as he seems like an interesting guy.

After the awesome speech, he introduced the band i.U.D., which performed two tunes, and in between the two, we were asked to get up on our feets, and closer to the stage, which sat the mood before we headed downstairs to take a closer look at his art.

For the sake of the art, and for the artist, I can only direct you to SLAMXHYPE, and the pictures they have presented there.

I have to say though: I really enjoyed the evening, so thank you Dan Colen, Astrup Fearnely, Aaron Bonadroff, i.U.D. and everyone else that made the evening to be awesome!

Art, and Music

So, today seems to be a great day.

In aprox 5 hours, I'm off to the opening of the Peanuts Exhibition by Dan Colen at the Astrup Fearnley museum in Oslo.
What I have seen of his art so far, is amazing, and I am really looking forward to this

First there will be an hour artist talk where we get the possibility to get a bit under the skin of Dan Colen and his art, which is going to be interesting.

From New York, he has also brought the duo I.U.D. which will have a mini-concert.
I have to admit that I hadn't heard about them before, but after reading a bit about them, as well as listening two of their tracks at their Myspace-page, this is set to be a an awesome evening.

I will post some pictures (if allowed) and thoughts regarding the exhibit later tonight or tomorrow.
In the meantime, you can see some of his art at the Saatchi Gallery

And if you are in Oslo, come down to the Astrup Fearnely Museum at 17.0 GMT+1 tonight.

Here is a live performance by I.U.D. recorded in 2007, enjoy =)