Magnhild Opdøl

Dead Dog Farm

2011-11-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

Gallery view
"Exhibit A"
ink on canvas 2011
"Fire Walk With Me"
found objects 2011

"Exhibit B"
lambda print on dibond 2011

Gallery view

Dead Dog Farm

2011-11-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

"Pus"

stills 2011

digital video 2011
gallery view

Dead Dog Farm

2011-11-05T08:48:00.001-07:00

"Smile"
pencil on paper 2011

"Smiles"
galleri view

Dead Dog Farm

2011-11-05T08:42:00.001-07:00

Galleri View

"Massacre"
chainsaw and chain 2011

"Un-Mounted"
foam and wood 2011

Dead Dog Farm

2011-11-05T08:37:00.001-07:00

"Dead Dog I"
pencil on paper 2011
"Dead Dog II"
pencil on paper 2011

"Wasted"
pencil on paper 2011

Dead Dog Farm

2011-11-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

Gallery View

"Trophy Number One"
pencil on paper 2011

Dead Dog Farm

2011-11-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

"Dead Dog Farm"
lambda print on diabond 2011

"Mysteries of Love"
wood and taxidermy roe deer legs 2011

"Sing" & "A Different Song"
taxidermy bird on wood & pencil on paper 2011

Dead Dog Farm

Magnhild Opdøl

Galway Arts Centre

“Of all the people in the world the best and the worst are drawn to a dead dog. Most turn away. Only those with the purest of heart can feel its pain and somewhere in between the rest of us struggle.”

For her solo exhibition in Galway Arts Centre Magnhild Opdøl uses the starting point of the popular 1990’s ABC TV series Twin Peaks. Her own hometown Sunndalsøra is a friendship town of Twin Peaks. The programme explores doubles, good, evil and the murky layers in between. Opdøl searches for similarities in her home, a place at once very familiar and unknown. Her art practice has been occupied with the poetics of the dead and our aversion to images of decay. In the original publicity for Twin Peaks, co-creator David Lynch’s now iconic image of a dead Laura Palmer featured on magazine covers, billboards and posters. The character of Laura Palmer starts as a two dimensional image and a stereotype for goodness and innocence, before the underbelly of the town is exposed through Special Agent Coopers investigations. Although Laura appears later on in the ‘Other Place’ and as her own cousin Maddie, she is never truly alive; in the minds of the viewer she is iconographic and stands for the loss of innocence, she is not a real person. Laura is a teenager that will never see adulthood or be able to disassociate herself from her traumatic childhood and adolescence.

David Lynch speaks about the idea behind the series he co-created with Mark Frost:

“Once you’re exposed to fearful things, and you see that really and truly many, many, many things are wrong – and so many people are participating in strange and horrible things – you begin to worry that the peaceful, happy life could vanish or be threatened.”

Magnhild Opdøl’s work is also influenced by the early 17th Century Northern European tradition of Vanitas paintings, which used symbols of death to express the transience of life compared to the everlasting nature of faith. The term comes from “Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas” which is translated in the King James Bible as “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity”and “Utterly meaningless, everything is meaningless” by the new International Version of the Bible. The objects featured in these works included skulls, decaying and / or bitter fruit, bubbles, hourglasses, smoke. They were strangely alluring while at the same time affirming our mortality and transience.

A viewer of Opdøl’s ‘Dead Dog Farm’ in Galway Arts Centre first encounters ‘First Circle’, a taxidermied lamb and ‘Confabulation III’ a photograph of the lamb in a field. The lamb is innocent yet has an Uncanny quality. It is viewing its own Doppelgänger.

There is confusion over what is real and what isn’t. Is the lamb less real now that he is dead?

A mounted log over the fireplace is a direct reference to Twin Peaks’ ‘Log Lady’. The log is cradled by a gun holder, a common object in Norway and in Twin Peaks. Aside from their thematic connotations, there is a strange joining of materials that make up this sculptural object.

For this exhibition Opdøl has moved into video work also. We encounter a large projection of a domestic cat eating a bird. This piece was made with a conscientious nod to Fischli and Weiss’ Büsi (Kitty) (2001, SFMOMA). However where the Swiss duo’s cat is peacefully taking a break and enjoying a drink, Opdøl’s subject is getting pleasure from eating a bird. This immediately conjures feelings of disgust and horror, but is it any different from walking past a restaurant window and seeing somebody eating chicken? Do we create rules and regulations for ourselves in order to separate what is good and what is bad? The front room of GAC’s gallery 2 depicts a ‘crime scene’ where deer hunting has taken place. We also see the image of a house, strangely symmetrical and visually attractive. Is this Dead Dog Farm? We see plastic on the ground – linking us back to the icon of Laura Palmer wrapped in plastic. There is a sinister, cold edge to these works, emphasized by the cold and harsh lighting. The series suggests that time has passed: something has happened and has not been resolved.

It seems that the longer the human race exists, the more afraid it is of dying. We have never had more knowledge: we are rational beings. However an image of pain, death and decay still fills us with an abject feeling. There is a very thin line between life and death. There is no line at all between goodness and badness. We kill animals to eat them but do not expect to either see the carcasses or in the case of the cat, see another animal doing the same as us. The title, ‘Dead Dog Farm’ conjures a horrific image in our head. We are then confronted with beautifully rendered drawings of dead animals in gallery 1. Death is not something to be afraid of; it is something that can, like the case of Laura Palmer, ignite action in a place and reveal the truth in everything and everyone that revolves around it.

Maeve Mulrennan.

ProjectArt @ Chapter One

2011-11-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

ProjectArt @ Chapter One unveils
Running in Pairs

Michelin Star restaurant, Chapter One, is delighted to announce a new initiative to promote the work of artists in collaboration with the restaurant. ProjectArt @ Chapter One will work with young or emerging artists in Ireland to build a collection for display in the restaurant over the next ten years.

Inspired by a love of art and a passion for food, Chapter One’s chef, Ross Lewis, created ProjectArt @ Chapter One as a collaborative expression of the creative connectivity between art, food and the restaurant’s customers. Each commission, launched biannually, will coincide with the Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer seasons.

Every six months the nominated artist’s brief will be to create a piece to grace the cover of Chapter One’s menu, while the original work will be displayed in the restaurant. There will also be a number of limited edition prints available to patrons.

The first commissioned piece is created by Irish based Norwegian artist Magnhild Opdol and is unveiled today (Thurs 27 October). The piece entitled Running in Pairs is a pencil drawing of two hares. “The work for Chapter One was inspired by the autumn and the hunting season”, Magnhild Opdol said. “I wanted to leave it quite simple and still, like an old Dutch painting of a food still life where they used game and vegetables and other raw food objects.”

Commenting on the new initiative, Ross Lewis pointed out that there are a lot of parallels between food and art. “Both require a flair and passion for creative thinking and delivery of something that is visually appealing and engaging. The first piece in ProjectArt, Running in Pairs, also has a double meaning that reflects this pairing.”

“The theme for ProjectArt @ Chapter One will be the interpretation of the connection between food and art. Each season, ProjectArt will reveal a new artist, using any media which can be expressed as abstract or realism.”

Ross concluded “We are very fortunate to be surrounded by artistic talent in Ireland and the thinking for this project came not only from our passion for the creative pairings, but also a wish to support young and emerging artists in Ireland. Martin Corbett and I have made a commitment to this project for 10 years and we are very excited to see the diverse representations artists will use to express this collaboration each season.”

Chapter One is fortunate to have the input of Barbara Dawson, Director Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Michael Dempsey, Head of Exhibitions Hugh Lane Gallery and artists Fergus Martin (Aosdana) and Patrick T. Murphy (RHA) and are appreciative of their guidance, expertise and help when Ross & Martin are selecting artists.

www.chapteronerestaurant.com

Dead Dog Farm Tour

2011-10-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

"Not Wanted"

2011-09-14T03:21:00.000-07:00

Pencil on paper, sparypaint, 2011

Coming soon.

2011-09-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

Dead Dog Farm

Galway Arts Centre

Opening Friday 07.10.2011, 6-8 pm

...

2011-09-04T08:27:00.001-07:00

Work in progress.

Roscommon Arts Centre

2011-07-05T06:08:00.000-07:00

"Narcissus", taxidermy head on mirror, 2011

"Bunny Bunny Bunga Bunga", taxidermy rabbits, 2011

"I'm Harearious Most of the Time", taxidermy rabbit on board, 2011

View from REMAINS, Roscommon Arts Centre, 2011

Roscommon Arts Centre

2011-07-05T06:04:00.000-07:00

REMAINS

Until 14 July

Remains Walkaround

2011-06-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

A walkaround of the exhibition in Roscommon Arts Centre, opening Friday 17th June.

Remains

2011-06-15T04:53:00.000-07:00

REMAINS

Magnhild Opdøl

Roscommon Arts Centre

Ireland

Opens Friday 17th June 5pm - 7pm

Exhibition continues until 14th July

www.roscommonartscentre.ie

Wolf Eat Wolf

2011-06-15T04:51:00.001-07:00

Pencil on paper, 2011

Place Gallery, Gorey, Ireland

2011-03-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

Installation shots from the exhibition in Place.

Director in Place is Juliana Walters

Curator is Paul Murnaghan

Place Shop in Gorey, Ireland

2011-03-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

Images from the shop Place in Gorey where I had some pieces around the shop as well as the gallery space.

Mobius Circle

2011-02-19T06:05:00.000-08:00

Exhibition view from Place in Gorey, Ireland. More to come when I've taken more photographs.

www.place.ie

Are we not sad?

2011-02-19T06:01:00.000-08:00

In the cartoons of Tom and Jerry, no one ever dies. Sticks of dynamite are forced into orifices, a head is squashed in a sandwich toaster, a piano drops from on high, but no one ever dies. Tom may ascend with harps and angles but we can be sure that he will miraculously return to continue the endless struggle, to strategize, run and endure. There is no moment of recess, of consideration or stasis where we might engage in the contemplation of their hectic existence or their final end. But then this was not intended as some ontological platform, for a few moments the reality of existence is suspended and we laugh as his tail catches in the mangle that slowly reels him in.

The essence of this humor is evident within Mobius Circle. At times Opdøl hints towards a Hanna - Barberaesque reflection on mortality as contrast to the realism with which she renders the stark process of life and death. A comedic cultural reference, as salve to the elephant in the room. This consideration may be a product of distance from her home country, as it finds many parallels in the Scandinavian sense of humor and it’s morbidly, beautiful myth. A region where Trolls with a fondness for pet bears and the company of princesses, will also rape and consume human flesh. Opdøl’s cultural identity and experience is ever present in her practice, as she plainly states in the accompanying text, “growing up on a farm, life and death is an everyday occurrence”. This is not to say that the work is devoid of sympathy. The presence of humor is scant but generous, a recognition of it as a human device for coping and continuing. The treatment of the drawn subjects is imbued with an obsessive empathy, each hair, each feather, still resonates past breath. At times, it seems that the presentation of these chosen animals in their new, much extended life as art, is a gift that alludes towards the religious beliefs that support our ability to live with what we know.

This collection of works at Place employs several art disciplines ranging from installation, bronze casting and drawing, to Opdøl’s first use of video documentation. It is an evolving process wrestling with ethereal substance. The title stretches further into the intangible by engaging with mathematical theory, referencing the peculiarities of the Mobius strip, which can be described as a continuous, non-orientable band. It has a very curious property, if a line is drawn from the seam down the middle to meet back at the same seam, it will somehow always end up at the "other side".

Paul Murnaghan

Work in progress.

2011-02-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

Making use of available material.

Deer legs.

Playing around.

2011-02-15T13:55:00.000-08:00

Back doing some painting. A winter wonderlandscape.

Mobius Circle

2011-02-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

place invites you to the launch of Mobius Circle,

an exhibition of new work by artist Magnhild Opdøl

Opening february 18, 6-8pm

at place, 5 John St, Gorey Co. Wexford

Circles are a reoccurring theme in my recent work, life to death and back again. On a previous trip home to Norway, I collected water and footage from a melting glacier. The short loop shows the flow of the melting water in Norway, the sculptural piece accompanying the footage allows this glacial water to evaporate back into the air, completing its journey.

I often collect other parts of the history surrounding my pieces, and make them part of my projects. An orange basin has now become a sculptural piece together with a drawing and the photograph for the invitation. This piece began when a sheep lay on her newborn lamb, and the lamb died. Growing up on a farm, life and death is an everyday occurrence. The process of documenting this lamb is my way of honoring this creature, and it will, like many great people, be allowed to live forever, through my work. The lamb has been drawn and photographed deceased and has been given a new life as a taxidermic sculpture and photographed back in the habitat that it never saw. So I guess even if I separate the projects into different shows, and make them into something else, they are part of the same circle, and are also linked together through my process and collection.

Curator Paul Murnaghan

www.paulmurnaghan.com

Exhibition continues till 19th March. Open 11am - 5.30 pm Monday to Saturday

www.place.ie

Droichead Blog

2010-10-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

Interview with artist Magnhild Opdøl

see

http://droicheadartscentre.wordpress.com/

Until the End - Droichead Arts Centre

2010-10-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

"Beware", pencil on paper and sculpture, 2010

"Circle", pencil on paper and sculpture, 2010

Installation view

The exhibition continues until 20th November 2010 in the Stockwell Street Gallery

Until the End - Droichead Arts Centre

2010-10-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

Installation views from my show "Until the End" in Droichead Arts Centre.

The exhibition is open until the 20th November 2010 in the Stockwell Street Gallery.

Tony O'Malley Residency 2011

2010-10-03T04:03:00.000-07:00

“23^rd of December”, pencil on paper, 56 x 69 cm. 2010

I’ve been so fortunate to be the first recipient of the Tony O’Malley Studio Residency 2011. The residency is in Callan, a small town ten minutes outside Kilkenny. It’s a beautiful big house and studio, so in November I’m gonna pack up my studio, my boyfriend Jonathan and our flat in Dublin and move down. The residency, administered by the RHA, is awarded on an annual basis to an artist who wishes to work primarily in the medium of paint, so I’ll be making some new work using paint and color in the coming year.

About Tony; During his lifetime Tony O’Malley was the recipient of subsidised studios and accommodation in St. Ives, Cornwall. Administered by the Arts Council of Great Britain it offered the artist time to concentrate on creating work. Jane O’Malley has never forgotten the privilege of those decades for herself and Tony. A number of years ago she acquired Tony’s family home in Callan Co. Kilkenny. Jane, working with her architect, set about renovating the building into a first class facility for an artist to live and work in and in association with the Royal Hibernian Academy Jane O’Malley now wishes to offer this home/studio to an artist on an annual basis.

To see images of the studio, go to: http://www.royalhibernianacademy.ie/html/educate/educate_studio.html

FUTURES 10 at the RHA

2010-09-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Images from my work in FUTURES 10 at the RHA

Exhibition view: “First Circle” sculpture, “Confabulation” I-II-III, lambda prints, “Paradiso”, pencil on paper

Exhibition view

"Irresistible" pencil on paper

Futures 10 continues to October 24th 2010

Galleries 1, 2 & 3

Artists: Oisin Byrne, Rhona Byrne, Fiona Chambers, Niall de Buitlear, Damien Flood, Magnhild Opdøl and Ailbhe Ni Bhriain

For more information see

http://www.royalhibernianacademy.ie/

or read Aidan Dunnes' review on

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0904/1224278171932.html

FUTURES 10 at the RHA

2010-09-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

Images from my work in Futures 10 at the RHA

Exhibition view

“Det er meget uheldig, for deg!” sculpture, "Uheldig" I-III pencil on paper

“Det er meget uheldig, for deg!” sculpture

From the left "23rd of December Part II" sculpture, "23rd of December" pencil on paper, "23rd of December Part III", sculpture

"The Great Escape" sculpture, "Beginning With The End Of The Tale" 1-5 pencil on paper

Futures 10 continues to October 24th 2010

Galleries 1, 2 & 3

Artists: Oisin Byrne, Rhona Byrne, Fiona Chambers, Niall de Buitlear, Damien Flood, Magnhild Opdøl and Ailbhe Ni Bhriain

For more information see

http://www.royalhibernianacademy.ie/

or read Aidan Dunnes' review on

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0904/1224278171932.html

"Turn of Events" at Cork Contemporary Projects

2010-08-16T11:04:00.000-07:00

View

"Beginning With the End of the Tale" drawings 2009, "A Different Kind of Problem" taxidermy mouse under glass dome 2009

"23rd of December" drawing 2010 "23rd of December-Part Two" sculpture under glass dome 2010

"Turn of Events" drawing 2010, "Turn of Events-Part Two" sculpture 2010

"Turn of Events" at Cork Contemporary Projects

2010-08-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

View from Cork Contemporary Projects, Cork

"Turn Of Events"

2010-08-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

Not Yet Titled, pencil on paper, 2010

Cork Contemporary Project Space is delighted to announce its last exhibition in its current space. ‘Turn of Events’ is a solo exhibition by Norwegian born, Dublin based artist Magnhild Opdøl. It is curated by Galway Arts Centre’s Visual Arts Officer Maeve Mulrennan. ‘Turn of events’ opens at 6pm on Wednesday 11th august in The Space, Top Floor, 7 South Mall, cork city. The exhibition runs until Friday 20th august. For directions & opening hours please refer to http://www.corkcontemporaryprojects.com/

The main body of Magnhild Opdøl’s recent work is an investigation into the nature of death. Everything has its’ time: after death all that remains is documentation or the memory of the person, the place or object. This new series of works deals with the idea of the end as the beginning, giving a new lineage to the images and objects that are created, where the past stops a new story begins.

For the artist, pencil and paper is a pure and poetic way to approach new matters, allowing her to get close to the subjects that she is working with. All of her work can be seen as a form of drawing, from sculptures to works on walls. The other work in taxidermy allows Opdøl to bring back once dead animals to life by placing them in a new light, giving them a new tale to tell in their sculptural form. Behind every sculptural piece there is a personal history, they are things the artist has grown up with, cared for and lived with. Dead things intrigue Opdøl, not the act of death but the object before and after the fact. There is an inherent beauty contained in something so sad and dark in death. Opdøl wishes to capture the essence of this beauty in her work. In John Hutchinson’s book ‘The Bridge’ (2008) he describes beauty as

“(It is) deeper, clearer, and more substantial. Beauty is normally only revelled by an attitude of detachment and affectionate attention. It is not inherent in an object, nor is it projected. Beauty lies in oneness, shared by the maker, the object, and the viewer.”p8

As the artist gets further away from her home in rural Norway, she perceives things about the country and its culture more objectively, and the Scandinavian sense of humour seeps into her work. Some pieces aim to make you smile at first but there is a twist in the tail before the ‘truth’ is revealed.

Magnhild Opdøl holds a BA and an MFA (Painting) from NCAD. She has exhibited extensively in Scandinavia and Ireland, in both group and solo projects. Her next exhibitions include a group exhibition in the RHA and a solo exhibition in Galway Arts Centre.

Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo

2010-08-06T02:19:00.001-07:00

Images from "Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo" Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, curated by Davey Moor. All photographs courtesy the gallery.

The exhibition runs until 27th August 2010.

"Beware"

2010-08-01T04:19:00.000-07:00

"Beware", pencil on paper, 2010

Upcoming Exhibition

2010-07-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Above, clockwise from top left:
Jonathan Mayhew, otto the otter sings bonnie prince billy, pencil on paper, 2009
Vanessa Donoso López, Untitled, mixed media, 2010
Magnhild Opdøl, Out on a Limb, taxidermied great tit on bronze branch, 2010
Lucy Sheridan, Bernard, oil & acrylic on canvas, 2010
Bennie Reilly, Healing Sweet Lips, oil on canvas, 2010
Geraldine O'Neill, Flora & Fauna, oil on canvas, 2010
Gabhann Dunne, Jumping the Tillim, oil on canvas, 2010
Marcel Vidal, Run Rabbit Run, oil on canvas, 2010
Centre:
Anne Kelly, The Wanderer, watercolour and pencil on fabriano, 2010

KEVIN KAVANAGH GALLERY

Chancery Lane / Dublin 8 / Ireland
t.+353(0)1 475 9514 / kevinkavanaghgallery.ie

"Triangle"

2010-06-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Pencil on paper, 2010

"Unfamiliar Territory"

2010-06-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

Pencil on paper, 120x60 cm, 2010

Draiocht Exhibition Preview

2010-06-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

"Study Skin I", pencil on paper, 2010

"Study Skin II", taxidermy bird, silk ribbon, 2010

Exhibition Opening in Draiocht

2010-06-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

"Lucky Charm" pencil and ink on paper, 2010

You are invited to the preview of

Magnhild Opdøl

Three Birds and a Rabbit

On Friday 4 June 2010 at 7.00pm

Exhibition continues until 28 August 2010

Draiocht, Blanchardstown, Dublin

www.draiocht.ie

"Greed"

2010-05-30T03:42:00.000-07:00

Pencil on paper, 2008.

Private collection.

Stop Looking At Me

2010-05-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

Pencil on paper, 28 x 40 cm, 2010

The Beast

2010-05-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

Pencil on paper, 2008

VU 2010

2010-05-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Vestlandsutstillingen 2010, Eidfjord, is opening today and runs until 13th of June.

For more information see www.vestlandsutstillingen.no

Work in progress

2010-04-13T04:11:00.000-07:00

Pencil on paper, 120 x 60 cm, detail

"Let the Games Begin"

2010-04-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Pencil on paper, 2008

More from Molde International Jazz Festival 2006.

2010-04-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

"The End", spray paint on aluminium, 2006

"Wave", spray paint on aluminium, 2006

"Diver", spray paint on aluminium, 2006

"Snorre Sel", spray paint on aluminium, 2006

Some signs from Molde International Jazz Festival 2006

2010-04-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

"Venus", spray paint on aluminium, 2006

"In God We Trust", spray paint on aluminium, 2006

"Casualty", spray paint on aluminium, 2006

"Little Hunter Boy", spray paint on aluminium, 2006

"The Original Sinners"

2010-03-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

Pencil on paper, 2007

Private collection

Boys - Fruit

2010-03-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

"David and David", pencil on paper, 2008

"Fighting over Granny Smith", pencil on paper, 2008

"Twit twit twit"

2010-03-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

"Twit twit twit", pencil on paper, 2010

Detail

Shop if you can, look if you want - Art Trail.

2010-03-11T03:59:00.000-08:00

"Out on a Limb"

Bird on bronze twig, 2010

Shop if you can, look if you want - Art Trail

St. Patrick's Festival 2010

Friday 12th - Wednesday 17th of March

Opening reception Friday 12th 6 - 8

Venue: Various Locations, Temple Bar

Smock Alley Theatre, Smock Alley Court and Cows Lane

The artists exhibiting are Aoife Casey (IE), Hugo Canolias (PRT), Mark Clare (IE), Joost Conijn (NL), Amanda Coogan (IE), Roisin Beirne (IE) Hartmut Bitomsky (DE), Jeanette Doyle (IE), Gillian Fitzpatrick (IE), Michael Fortune (IE) Karl Grimes (IE), Deirdre Judge (IE), John Kenny (IE), Nevan Lahart (IE) Sean Lynch (IE), Yuki Okumura (JPN), Magnhild Opdøl (NOR), Jorge Satorre (Mex/Esp) and Sonia Shiel (IE), Joe Stanley (IE), and Sharon White (IE).

Om Hundrede Aar Er Alting Glemt

2010-03-07T05:36:00.001-08:00

Pencil on paper, 2009

My "Hero" and his "Casualties"

2010-02-19T05:19:00.000-08:00

"Hero", mouse on bronze horse, in front of a Heroine wall painting, 2007

"Hero" and "Casualties"

"Casualties", bronze death masks of mice

Close up of death mask

Installation view of "Hero" and "Heroine"

A variation of this installation will be shown at

Vestlandsutstillingen, Norway, 6 May - 13 June

"A Differnt Kind of Problem" and drawing.

2010-02-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

"A Different Kind of Problem", 2009, mouse under glass dome

"Nära Skjuter Ingen Hare", 2009, pencil on paper

One of the bullets in the wall behind the hare

"Earth Mother"

2010-02-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

Pencil on paper, 2008

"Fatale Play"

2010-02-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

Pencil on paper, 2008

The Seven Sinners, Part II

2010-01-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

The Seven Sinners, wool hats on male sex doll heads, 2008

Lust

Pride

Sloth

Photography by Davey Moor

The Seven Sinners

2010-01-27T12:05:00.000-08:00

Greed

Gluttony

Envy

Wrath

The Seven Sinners, wool hats on male sex doll heads, 2008

Photography by Davey Moor

The Answer Lies in the Cards

2010-01-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

Pencil on paper, 8.8 x 6.6 cm each, 2009

The Answer Lies in the Cards, view.

2010-01-23T07:10:00.000-08:00

Drawings of insects, pencil on paper 2009

The Answer Lies in the Cards

2010-01-22T05:53:00.000-08:00

Series of 90 drawings, 8.8 x 6.6 cm each. Pencil on paper 2009

Ding Dong. Your Head.

2010-01-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

Pencil on paper, 2008

Tor Juul`s Collection, Oslo

"Bouvard Et Pécuchet"

2010-01-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

Photographs by Magnhild Opdøl after the video "Deeparture" by Mircea Cantor.

The show "Bouvard Et Pecuchet" was curated by Carolina Hoffmann, and held in Light House Cinema, Dublin 10.12.09-10.01.10

The Great Escape

2010-01-09T06:59:00.001-08:00

"The Great Escape"

Work on Cat

2010-01-09T06:56:00.001-08:00

Cat before installing

Installing the cat

Forlorn Hare

2010-01-08T07:13:00.000-08:00

Forlorn Hare Recipe

2 kilograms beef mince

4 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons pepper

1 ½ teaspoons ginger

2 teaspoons nutmeg

8 tablespoons potato flour

2 eggs

One plant of parsley, finely chopped.

Mix well together in a bowl. Use half to make three loafs, fill the chopped parsley in the middle of each loaf and cover with the rest of the mince. Bake in the oven until golden brown, base with a mix of milk and water every 15 minutes.

Sauce

Brown off butter and flour in an iron pan, then add the jus from the Forlorn Hare and some beef stock until it’s as thick as you want it. Add a bit of cream and some brown Norwegian cheese. Finely chopped onion if you like it, and a little salt.

Serve your Forlorn Hare with potatoes, vegetables and foxberry jam.

"Beginning with the End of the Tale", the Lab, 2009, part 2

2010-01-08T06:53:00.001-08:00

"Beginning with the End of the Tale", the Lab, 2009, part 1

2010-01-08T06:46:00.000-08:00

The eye

2010-01-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

“We need to know we’re not alone”, pencil on paper.

“You see? ”Glass eye in glass dome.

Text about recent exhibition.

2010-01-08T06:04:00.000-08:00

A text about the exhibition "Beginning with the End of the Tale" , The Lab, Dublin, 2009.

The main body of my recent work is an investigation into the nature of death. Everything has its’ time, after death all that remains is documentation or the memory of the person, the place or object. This new series of works deals with the idea of the end as the beginning, giving a new lineage to the images and objects that are created, where the past stops a new story begins.

Pencil and paper is for me a pure and poetic way to approach new matters, allowing me to get close to the subjects that I am working with. Drawing is at the core of my practice and each drawing becomes a finished piece not just a sketch for bigger ideas, which is not to say that they do not get developed into objects. All my work is seen as a form of drawing, from sculptures to works on walls

The work in taxidermy allow me to bring back once dead animals to life by placing them in a new light, giving them a new tale to tell in their sculptural form. Behind every sculptural piece there is a personal history, they are things I have grown up with, cared for and lived with. Taxidermy is primarily the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study, allowing the viewer to see something that they wouldn’t usually see. These new sculptural pieces are combined with references from culture, high and low; similar to the way I remix images form art history with other elements in my earlier work. Dead things intrigue me, not the act of death but the object before and after the fact. There is an inherent beauty contained in something so sad and dark in death and an energy and awareness in the moments before or of escape. I wish to capture the essence of this beauty in my work.

The process of making the work is as important as the work itself, I engage with a subject to a point where I lose myself in the making. Engaging with the materials that I choose to work with or that choose to work with me. The cat that was sick, the mice that the cat caught, simply things like that allow me to develop and create further tales for these new materials that were once something different in my life.

Even if the imagery can have dark elements I hope the beauty in them is more evident. The materials and techniques are very intrinsic to the creation of the works. Using these materials allow the work I create to become all that they can be, hopefully beautiful objects in there own rights. As I get further away from home (Norway) I can see things about the country I grew up in more clearly and the Scandinavian sense of humour seeps into my work. Some pieces aim to make you smile at first but there is a twist in the tail before the ‘truth’ is revealed. In John Hutchinson’s book ‘The Bridge’ (2008) he describes beauty as

Postmortem study

2010-01-08T05:40:00.000-08:00

Finding a model

Postmortem Study of Bambi

Postmortem Study of Deer

Eple-The Core

2010-01-07T14:26:00.001-08:00