Galleri Format was represented at the Collect at Saatchi on Kings Road this year...and i was among the exhibiting artist...i went down for five days experiencing another world of art and crafts...much different days from those in my studio on the tiny island where i live

i have to admit i felt both me and my artwork was a bit ailien to the whole setting...but Karianne and Camilla from the gallery was brilliant at putting my small figurinas in the hands of the viewers explaining my wish to achive the personal/individual experience of animating the object with spirit/life in the palm of their hand...

myself i went to collect impressions...loved to see the other artists work...but after two days i just had to escape to the Natural History Museum and the next day The Science Museum...both visit triggered and outlined new important ideas for further work and personal visions : butterflies, history of the earth (geology...rocks and stuff), and space travels 

just wanted to post this picture from the shop at ØKS...my thingies are not too easy to have on display i guess...so i get very happy when i see it done as well as this...my creatures breath so much better out of lockers and cabinets

thankoo Anja :)

this is another work i put up in the  H Y S H room...containing field-modelled objects (meaning made in nature on site)  and another of Mr Jason Larkins photographs. ..the fact that the nature on the picture is not so different to some of the places i go makes an interesting connection as all the objects are made by inspiration...directly...after seeing a new uploaded image/text combination from Mr. Jason Larkin during the spring of 2009

for me it has much to say about how my ideas grow...the imprtance of exchange of ideas ...views...work... how finding a kindered spirit expand my world and make me come closer to my physical surroundings

the fragility of it all...us ...nature...and the absurde attempt to capture it either in images or porcelain... eeehhhh...its important...both for the prosess...the finished whole of the work...and just me

too many words  H Y S H

 i think this picture together with Mr Jason Larkins photo illustrate what i want to express...and during the vernissage i got the impression that this is what people want to do...like i did so many times in real-life...pick up a bird from the ground and take it back home for rescue...as i have (a rare occation) enlargered the motif i hope to bring forward the experience of childhood...the bird is quite big in your hand...

to be a bit personal this leeds back to a single experience for me that i think i want to share: when i was nine, i lived in a block in a suburb of bergen...there was some small patches of forrest left close to the buildings where we kids used to play...in one of the large  trees there was this magpie nest...and some of the children made a game of throwing stones at it....of course i felt the urge to climb up and rescue the birdies...so i did...one...but i was not allowed to keep it at home...so i ran away...for about eight hours i was going along the highway in the rain with the bird in my hands...unable to cover its body with my hands in one grip...constantly having to change the postition of my fingers to keep it warm...much of my obsession of modelling these birds comes from that night i think 

i was a bit afraid the amount may scare the viewers off from connect with the figures ...but obviously that did not happen...in this case i also split the installation so the birds can be bought one by one and by that find a new safe enviroment at its new owner with or without one of the beautiful images...

taking pictures like that im a bit amivalente to...i dont want it to look as i use the photos as a backdrop...they are as crucial to the story-telling as the birds itselves...but i think its visualizes my own private experience somehow and for me it becomes alive again

last week i was putting up the H Y S J exhibition at Østfold Kunstnersenter. This was one of four paralelle shows and a very pleasant place to work, a nice room and kind collegues with very interesting projects i must say...im honoured to be exhibiting with you guys :)

luckily my special ordered crash-pad in baby-blue fake-leather had arrived  before me...(my corrected photos never did) despite of the ash in the air

i had alot to do...every of the 56 birds got between 30 and 50 small holes in which there are to be glued a tiny piece of tread...splitted and vaxed cotton...and this action took me two hardworking days on the floor...while sitting like that i learn to know the room and as i have all the pictures around me i put them up one by one when i see/feel the right spot...i use black map-pins as the room is kinda rough and i like to avoid frames in order to achieve a straight forward expression

i should write something about this work but im not sure how to start...or what to choose...maby with the crowd versus individual...or the infant birds ive found and somtimes tried to save....why i choose to include Mr. Larkins photos in the installation ....or just how the prosess of modelling over 50 dying birds work on my mind and body ?

i am in love with the process...to be with my material is always taking me away... the importance of the hand...the dialogue between my palm fingers eyes and thoughts...the absolute threedimentionality...as ive said before my inspiration mostly comes from nature and my akward attemt to belong in it

but if i should mention an art-source of inspiration that has to be inuite bone-sculptures and i think this is visible in this project...in the making its of course a contradiction...carving is subtraction to a hard mass molding is adding and morphing of plasticity... but the final expression is both small , white and striving towards life-likeness for the function of reprensentation...i have this idea that i want to rescue something by making

when i start working on huge amounts...and when trying to give each figure soul and individuality im extremly consentrated  and cannot even have my ipod going...in my head all images and stories  of birds are playing like a slideshow on random and without forcing the prosess the installation is comming clearer in my mind... this time i had the elements for what i wanted to use dropping in my head like a vision a very early morning...which has never happened before...both scary and exhiting

still i had to work a long time to ...well first dare to ask for permittion to use the photos ...and next strip the idea....and last ...which was hard...try to awake some hope and playfulness into the work...it was easier after getting the first beautiful image...seeing how the expression worked with my objects...that it was not merly a dream....they talked...i was especially facinated by the visual connection between the branches and the bird-feet....and the fact that Mr Larkin has choosed to focus on the meeting between trunk and ground makes  wonderful safe enviroment for my creatures and myself in a vulnerable and lonsome process...it pehaps sounds strange but im comforted by the presence of his forest not only because of the beauty  it contains but also because these images has their own story i feel i belong to visiting them on screen by the last two years

after some time the karthesis-effect of the modelling start to hit in and i can put on my music...and the life and humour returns as the room lives again i sing while i work and some of my birds are actually made in dancing poses....ha ha...i can easily pick out which ones are made to the dub and which are created to the sound of punk...and i can tell you a secret there is also birds in the crowd that has a smile on their beak and one that actully flies

My next show will be up in Fredrikstad from the 24. April.

This will be an installation called "H Y S J" inspirated by private stories and the book "silent spring". The work will contain porcelain objects and photos made by me and I'm very happy and proud to say also the photographs of Jason Larkin (US) .

I have not included this prosess on my blog yet because I have had big difficulties on putting words to this...maby i will later on...but for now i just stick to my own title and let it be with this...shh ;)

 ...it's a long time since I've been posting anything in here...basicly because I've been crazy busy. During the last month I have been out in Schools doing workshops; my mascot (character-design ) , akrylic street-art insprirated painting , obake/monster moulding and this Happy Hybrid which is what I call  analogue photo-chopping for the 3. and 4. grades where we will make a new book of fantasy animals based on photo-copies from animal books. 

Do I have to mention it was fun ?

The image here is from a lokal paper visiting us at Rong / Øygarden

Thank you for a nice and interesting review with an awesome title

oki...i admit it : im desperate!

so now i put some of my stuff on etsy.com

for those of you who are used to the prizes of my work you might find a pleasant surprize...i really need to sell something soon

my cats here are not out yet...some i have too much difficultes to part with...some needs some extra acessories...but a few will pop up during this week i guess.

an...uhmm...im SUPERNURK of course...did i have to mention ?