THEN THE COLOURS CAME
- On the Path to Deeper Artistic Freedom -
Part 2
The canvases exploded in colours. Not wildly, but suddenly, colours were no longer just the icing on top of a painting (which is why I prohibited myself from using colours in the paintings for my first two exhibitions).Abruptly, colours became as necessary as brushstrokes and forms.
This led to new visits to KEM (Artists own Materials). I was, of course, familiar with Goethe’s theory of color, and while my experiences align closely with it, it was my personal discoveries that mattered most to me.
Soon, I had reduced my palette to the three primary colours—yellow, red, and blue—along with white. I had already discarded all my black pigment after taking the advice of the influential Polish-Norwegian artist Ryszard Warsinski, mixing black from the primary colours instead.
In 1985, I held a studio exhibition with my good friend, artist Jan Erik Willgohs, with whom I shared a studio in Kongens Gate, just below Steen & Strøm in Oslo.
My part of the exhibition focused on divers. A highly simplified form of a diver was repeated in all the paintings, but with different color solutions.
In the fall of the same year, there was the group exhibition "Between Berlin and New York" at Wang Kunsthandel in Oslo. This exhibition featured 13 artists, who were also presented in the Norwegian Contemporary Art Calendar for 1986 (published by Ex Libris).
"The Diver", from the exhibition "Between Berlin and New York"
at Wang Kunsthandel, Oslo
at Wang Kunsthandel, Oslo
From the newspaper Dagbladet, from left to right: me, Johan Sandborg and Morten Børresen. My painted polaroid photo on the right side.
In spring 1986, I exhibited alongside Morten Børresen and Johan Sandborg at the Drammen Art Association, where Jan Åke Petterson was the curator. Petterson was an extraordinary art historian and museum director.
Jan Åke Petterson told the newspaper Fremtiden in 1987: "We don’t sell what’s easiest to sell, but what’s worth selling—a meaningful cultural experience."
Jan Åke also wanted to present my art internationally, but I declined. Or rather, I said something like: Why should I have someone explain my art when I don’t even know what I’m doing myself?
At the 1986 Molde International Jazz Festival, I collaborated again with Morten Børresen as part of an official festival project, alongside the brilliant musician Lister (Stein Inge Larsen).
THE COLOURS HAD ARRIVED…
Now, the colours had arrived, and one of the first exhibitions to feature them was the studio exhibition Jan Erik Willgohs and I held in 1985
. Jan Erik presented his striking expressionist paintings, inspired by classical scenes.
My works featured a highly minimalist figure of a diver, repeated in all the paintings, and I even painted a pool on the concrete floor.
When entering the studio, one would suddenly find themselves standing on a painted diving board, with the same figure as on the canvases painted at the edge of the board.
In the fall of the same year, my works were exhibited at Wang Kunsthandel (which at the time was located where Det Norske Teatret stands today). The exhibition "Between Berlin and New York" showcased 13 artists who were meant to represent the 1980s. These artists were also to be featured in the Norwegian Contemporary Art Calendar for 1986. I must admit that, unfortunately, I don’t remember all the participants, but at least these were represented:
Therese Nortvedt, Magne Rygh, Jan Erik Willgohs, Dag Thoresen, Gabrielle Kielland, Kjell Erik Killi Olsen, and myself.
The publisher of the Contemporary Art Calendar wanted a text that presented us as the most important artists of the 1980s.
When I read the text, I reacted immediately. I absolutely did NOT want to participate in an exhibition that made such grand claims. I said that perhaps in fifty to a hundred years, one might write such things, but today...
In the end, I had to rewrite the text myself to make it more grounded in “reality.” The photo for the calendar was taken by a photographer who mentioned that he also photographed for artists like Jakob Weidemann and others—so the result turned out great. But do you think I kept the calendar, photos from the exhibition, and more? Of course not, so the only thing I have left is this extremely blurry photo from when Sparebanken Vest purchased the painting.
As I sit here, I hear my dear Monica whispering, “typical you, Arnvid...”
When Herman Watzinger (who built the Kon-Tiki raft and was the deputy commander on the expedition) married his dear Victoria, Thor Heyerdahl was Herman's best man, and I was Victoria’s. They received one of my diving paintings as a wedding gift, and Herman often spoke about how he experienced the colors changing with the shifting light of days and seasons. That’s one of the properties of light when it meets a color surface with multiple layers of overlapping colors.
The official poster from the exhibition in Drammen Kunstforening
This was the second part of an exhibition Morten Børresen had previously organized.
Part one was at Fotogalleriet, where Morten took Polaroid photos of everyone who attended the exhibition, and Jan Åke Petterson filled helium balloons. The Polaroid pictures were attached to individual balloons, which then floated under the ceiling (audience above and audience below).
Five days after the opening, each of the approximately 150 Polaroid photos was fitted with a note asking the finder to return the picture to Fotogalleriet. Then, the balloons, each with its attached Polaroid picture, were released into the sky. Some of the photos were found in a forest area in Sweden—and were sent back.
In the background of the photo above (from the newspaper Dagbladet), you can see one of my still lifes of one of the Polaroid pictures that was returned. The canvas has the exact proportions of a Polaroid picture—just “a bit” enlarged (-:
Of course, I have no documentation of my paintings from this, which were in color. The picture I have here is in black and white—a bit of instant karma at play, wouldn’t you say? In the Video Art Archive (Nasjonalmuseet), it is recorded that Morten followed up on this project with an exhibition at Drammen Kunstforening, where Jan Åke Petterson was the director:
“Børresen also created a follow-up exhibition about this project together with two others, Johan Sandborg and Arnvid Aakre, at Drammen Kunstforening in May 1986.”
Morten further commented:
“I was actually awarded a three-day feature and lifelong membership in the Dusteforbundet ('The Foolish Federation' because of this project.”
