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.
