Townscapes , landscapes , and interiors .
In the citiscapes, landscapes, and interiors I focus on a psychological state of mind . The cities face and its hiding-places. Traces from the past that lies in several parts in the picture together with its modern infra-structure simultaneously. A place can express something invisible, have a memory and atmosphere from the past that I follow. I can get an idea of the place,based on long term staying .
I work with the photographs afterwords by enlarging small parts of the actual photograph so that the grains in the photo become large and sometimes pointillistic, as in the photograph ” Kolomenskoje – Moscow 1997 ” The picture has been cropped 1 /5 by its original size and enlarged to 1,10 m x 2,80 m.
Another example of this technique and theme mentioned above is the photograph “Ulitza Galinskaya, Moscow 1997” The carnations symbolize the interior life of the person who lived there. The Soviet – era was officially ended, but inside of the Russian people another reality than the official was unchanged. The melancholy of the human conditions of those who lost everything they had believed in for 70 years. The dissolved image, like seeing through tears and the feeling of falling out of the window stresses this state of mind. The photographs was shown in a series of other photographs in the “Autumn Exhibition” (see CV) , and in my retrospective solo exhibition in the Stenersen museum in 2007.
Mirrors
In the photographs ” We shall pass , Budapest 2007 “, ” Jerusalem-2007 ” and ” A Palace Past, Budapest 2007 ” mirrors are being used to stress the content of two different realities or time, a now and then, in the pictures . The photographs was shown in my retrospective exhibition in Stenersen museum in 2007 and in Kunstnerforbundet 2011. In 2014 Koro , The Culture – department of Norway bought the photographs and they are now placed in the reception of Norseter school.
Teresa Mantorsky
The tryptic ” Teresa Mantorsky ” was made during the production of the videowork ” Miserere where she act Rosa Ponselle (also played by me ) as young . The Triptycon is a portrait
of Teresa Mantorsky as she is in real life . She was by then a scattered violinist at the age of eleven . A serious child ,raised up as a catholic ,who thought a lot about God where prayer was a natural part of life . The tryptic was shown in a solo -show at the Gallery K 2004 , Oslo together with the video work . It was also shown at the retrospective exhibition “Where the Railroad Leaves the Sea ” in Stenersen museum in 2007 .
Le Chemin de la Liberté
In 2009 i stayed one year in Paris. During this time I got to know the homeless gypsies from Romania that stayed in a plank-village in the St. Denis . Between two highways they had build a row of small houses made of planks, carpets, and whatever they could find . At the time I got to know them ,it was a very cold winter ,and I started to collect clothes and carpets for the gypsies living under the bridges and in the plank-village . All ages lived in the huts , small newborn children and grandmothers . We became good friends .The men in the village also helped me to enter areas of danger and protected me when I went under the bridges. I made a series of photographs that was shown in gallery Traffo 2010 together with three video works :” Exile “,House of the Dead ” ,and ” Sumkayit ” Read about the films and see the films in the Video -sections . The photographs size is : 1,15 m x 1,40 m.They where nailed directly on the wall to stress the theme within the photographs . The theme for the exhibition was to show that these people had a more directly access to a spiritual life ,in a different way than what a rich person have . Being poor make you value friends ,while a rich person could be ,for example paranoid ,thinking his friend is after his money . They might climb the ladder for success and leave some friends behind . The gypsies would give all their money to honour a friend, in for example funerals, and also in life . Your friends are your treasures . The photographs where taken (as always) with a Russian Zenith – Camera.
Sumkayit Portraits
The portraits of Natasja and Alexandra where taken in their hometown Sumquait in Azerbadjan . The factories and houses are left as ruins after the collaps of Soviet -union .
Time has turned backwards , and horses are now beeing used instead of cars . Refugees from Nagorno Karabak lives together with the people in ruins .They are left behind after the closure of the big factory that the whole society in Sumquayit was depended on .The two girls also take part in the film ” Sumquayit where the sun always smiles ” from 2008 ,se sections for video . The portaits was shown at the exhibition ” Frihetens Veier ” ( The road to freedom ) in Gallery Trafo in 2008 .
The portraits size is 1,10m x 1,40m C-print.