two days later i am to be seen by 750 people at the vernissage....she works well..hypnotic is a word often used....her gaze drags people from other rooms and they keep getting closer until they discover that the strange spots that disturbs the portrait are shadows casted from the airplanes which you cannot see until you come really close....the focus turns and the image of the face disappear into blur...optic illusjon is also mentioned...my sanity is of course questioned and im not the right person to answer...im pleased to show a work fulfilling an idea...vision that for a long time was only in my head...im glad it costed as much dedication both mental and physically that it looks like...and im glad so many of my viewers sees that and share their experience of it with me (i know im not easy to talk too..and that it looks like i want to run away....but im glad for those of you who express yourself to me...i am)

I dont know quite what to say...the work has got the effect i wanted ... the expression works well together with the other art in the room...its a good feeling...i have not even touched the wine. ...im grateful to have such wonderful collegues to work with...its an honour to exhibit with you girls !

im very thankful to all of those who came on the opening night...and also who those who was not there but in every way have had influence on these pieces

but

no

im not done with the airplanes, vehicles or other machinery

not by far 

i planned to describe even more of the process for this work but time rushed rapidly on the later days and suddenly i was out of i-connection...so i just have to tell what i was not able to share : the sound of the fragile objects touching each other when packing them in their box filled with ployester...carefully arranged so they would not break...its so lovely that sound...like a fairy tinkle...also i have not a photo of me, late evening with 65 liters rucksack a huge cardboard-box containing four 40 X 50 cm monters and also a plastic box so carefully carried to the train. There is no picture of me sleeping on the train in a chair with this box on my lap...nor arriving Oslo and not finding any cab...spending an hour to lay the one km distance to the gallery behind me....but here i am...on the floor..finally....close to be sealed and hang on the wall...

I grew up in the 80's in Norway; a time where the cold war hang as a constant black cloud in a everybodys mind in a little country that had been occupied during ww2 and the post traumas that follows.

I dont think its obvious that children in my time and my surroundings should feel this things body-wise...after all; the US and USSRs power struggle was a bit abstract and far away and the invasion  distant in time. Still...this was a huge what you only can imagen have no earthly limit  to the size they grow into and this became sometimes consuming; the absolute feeling of powerlessness...the surreality of nations...the despair of destruction... the un-nature of it...and above all; fear of death...your own and those you love.

I dont know how this has affected me...im not afraid anymore but i sure has a despise for civilasation in many ways...and the constructions called borders i will never completely understand .

For what is worth i feel i need to work with this...for my own sake...and though i thought i might be through with this with "AIRBORDERS" but to be honest; there are too many battles and borders inside.Yet.

I think i want to share the orgin of the idea for the aircraft work...now given the title "AIRBORDERS".

If any of you have going throough my gallery of "selected works" its obvious that the work fly/ww2 is essential for my new production. Still there is another thing ive made which are just as important for this outcome; "missery is a butterfly" ...just a photograph...made in another context and with a totally different inspiration. But the brain works in mysterious ways and in this these two works has become one in a paler hybrid ...im very exited now that its closing up to do the final montage...

this took me 4 days intense modelling...about 7 hours each day ...different model takes different time..i work in set of 4...using different tekcnices on all models...some have alot of cut parts, some more finger-modelled according to the expression of the form...the greatest challenge is to get the parts together before dried out which happens rapidly in this format. the holes are made with a needle which holds the body of the plane still for working on the adds and are used for an insect-pin after firing at 1300 degrees celcius.

I struch me today how much the motifs reminds me of sea-creatures...some models sharks another small kois...at least until they get their wings attached...

...this is going to be a part of the exhibition at Kunstnerforbundet ( www.kunstnerforbundet.no ) in january 2010 and im aiming for between 300 - 400  insect sized airplanes combined with photographs...im exhited about this because i have not seriously used my pictures in exhibitions since school , with the exeption of the ART-animal project earlier this autumn.

As can be seen from this documentation objects are down to 9 mm with smallest details less than one mm, the only tools i use are needles,  knitting pins and a knife. Right now im so nerdy about this i even dream of the details.

I work from illustration in books...very much like a field-guide study i try to re-create the details that differ each specie form another ...but of course the limit of my eyes and fingers turn these out of proportions and without pushing this makes them organic characatures of the motif

soooo...marked days are over and i find myself feeling pretty tired but happy...not because of money earned but because...after six years absence form this activity...i realize how much i missed the direct contact with viewers

people starting to giggle when they turn the corner facing my table...curious children...grinning middle-aged women...im privileged and this was a welcome variation from the more serious art-scene i will be in front of next month...a reminder of why i started doing this in the first place...to make a thing that make someone feel something

one thing which often came up as a theme in dialogue with audience is the stories....which are my stories for the figures? of course there is at least one story for each serie...probably even one for each figure...working with the embalage i also emphasize this...starting in Tokyo last year by making a special box for each doll ("boxing days" gallery Azabujuban Gallery) ...this year i made oval wooden or cardboard boxes for each doll with a comfortable wool-bedding (i like natural materials)...i figure i will work this even further in the future

but even though my stories and references are pretty clear to me, its my whole aim for the viewer to make his or her own stories...sometimes they share straight away which makes me incredible humble...i make my dolls move-able mostly because i want them to feel more alive in the palm of a hand...in the white cubes they look as unfitted (as i feel myself) left on shelfs or columns  ...they beg to be picked up and for you to figure out their place in the world, adventures in the past and new ones to come...

this weekend at Scøtte-stuene Bergen

12-17 from 11-13 december

Welcome to see my alternative suggestions for christmas decorations

two more cats...here is the original motif Maske in the background ...he was so curious when i was out shooting..

this photo-set is still waiting for scanning...cause i used my blackbird cam except on this single one...im so eager to see the result i dont know why i distress myself insisting on using analogue for it

anyway...the thought is to use some of the pictures and also selling the cat-stuffies getting a little money for the local wild-cat protection program

(but im not too eager selling them cause i have so much fun playing still)

this is a piece finished off and delivered to Gallery S12 in Bergen for a collaboration work for exhibition that opens  next  weekend...it going to be a huge chandelier with alot of different objects attached to it...i dont have any deep thoughts for this one...i like reptiles and i like the idea of catching stars on my tongue like snowflakes...its made from stained porcelain and decorated with gold and some fake diamonds in the eyes...to catch some light there as well

references to the song...of course...lets call her Lucy and hope that she be well up there

;)

(no...im NOT in a good mood...im just putting the face there to look up-lifting)