Imagine if you hadn’t washed your hair in years. All the dust and dirt that had accumulated weighed down the hair. A simple hair wash would not do, you had to use heavier protection. This is the situation for a white unicorn in the workshop of artist Børre Sæthre. The unicorn, which is actually a stuffed wild horse from Iceland, received enormous attention when he was exhibited at the Astrup Fearnley Museum in 2001. He ended up on the cover of a prestigious book about art and was named one of Norway’s most important art events of the 2000s. Photo: Thames & Hudson Then there was silence. The four-legged work of art was placed in a transport box in an art warehouse, and slowly but surely the shine in the fur faded. Now the unicorn is being exhibited again. When the Astrup Fearnley Museum turns 30, he is the big attraction. First, a major makeover is needed. Out and wash horses How do you wash a unicorn that is a horse? Outside artist Børre Sæthre’s studio stands a trailer reminiscent of the kind used to transport horses, but there is no smell of stables inside the workshop. The horse is clean. And death. But lives like a work of art. A trio stands around the animal. It is Sæthre, taxidermist Espen Lynne and 14-year-old Viljar Mysen. Lynne is an expert in animal conservation, while Mysen has a somewhat special working week. He must place the horn on the horse’s forehead. WORK WEEK: Viljar Mysen screws in the horn, which is modeled after a jester’s tormentor. In the background, artist Børre Sæthre stands and follows along, while taxidermist Espen Lynne helps. Taxidermist Espen Lynne says that he soaped up the horse just as one does in the shower, before rinsing off many years of dust. How to wash a unicorn: With your own fur detergent. – And then it happens that we use ordinary shampoo and conditioner, actually, says Lynne. To get the fur to lie correctly, they have smeared the horse with wax and jelly. They have ruffled the fur, so that he looks like a type of unicorn that you find in old fairy tales. Together with special effects expert June Olsen, who previously worked at Madame Tussaud’s, Lynne sat for many hours and stapled in individual hairs, so that the slightly tired Fola Blakken would turn into a shiny unicorn. The big breakthrough In 2001, the unicorn, with the work title “My Private Sky”, represented a new development in Norwegian contemporary art. The use of animals, staging and film references were refreshing. You entered a blue room where you became unsure of space and time. In the center lay the unicorn looking invitingly at you while he lifted one hind leg. – This work has a towering place in Norwegian art history, confirms news’s art critic, Mona Pahle Bjerke. Photo: Werner Anderson The unicorn was actually a large part of the reason why she chose contemporary art rather than medieval art, which fell when she was a young art history student. – I remember being completely fascinated by Børre Sæthre, that I saw the blue work, and yes… That it was a defining experience. She emphasizes the special science fiction atmosphere that Sæthre created with this work, inspired by filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock. – He brought in a completely new idiom that attracted a lot of attention. And which I think really hit a nerve. Solveig Øvstebø, director of the Astrup Fearnley Museum, also remembers the unicorn well from the start of her career. – It is extremely good craftsmanship. And ambitious in the way it fills the museum. An interactive work that the public is allowed to become a part of, sums up Øvstebø. Photo: Javier Auris / news Rediscovered In 2020, as newly appointed director, Øvstebø went through the collection in search of works that had defined the museum’s history. She was surprised when she discovered that the museum did not actually own the unicorn, just a photo of him, and contacted the artist. Børre Sæthre had, in a sense, been waiting for the inquiry. With the exception of a short trip on loan to museums in New York and France, the unicorn had been in a temperature-controlled box in his art storage. TRIP TO NEW YORK: The unicorn was exhibited at the prestigious museum MOMA PS1 in 2008. Photo: Photo courtesy of MoMA PS1 The museum bought the work, and the ball started rolling. Sæthre contacted taxidermist Lynne, who helped assemble the unicorn in 2001. At that time, Per Lynne, his father, was in charge. news followed the creation of the work at the time. The body was shaped from foam, the anatomy fixed and dressed with fur from a real wild horse. The taxidermist and the artist have known each other for almost 30 years. – There has always been too much to do. I have never been close to running out of work, says Lynne. FOLA BLAKKEN: Espen Lynne fixes on the unicorn. There are elk and deer hunters who want to have their heads on the wall, for the most part. Occasionally props for commercials – or news. Once, Lynne made a remote-controlled bear for the national broadcaster that you could walk inside. – Afterwards he tried to poke the bear at me, remembers the artist Sæthre. For the taxidermist, the goal is usually to make the animal look as natural as possible. In meeting the artist, he has to adapt a little. Here he gets to play. It is art. The horn on the forehead and the rear leg that lifts are far from anatomically correct. – This is actually a funky pose, if it had been a horse. But it isn’t. So then you can afford such things, says Sæthre. On the Internet, there are plenty of examples of how killing animals doesn’t necessarily have to be pretty. Feet and paws pointing in all directions. Lists with the world’s ugliest stuffing jobs. Espen Lynne explains to us what is important to become a skilled taxidermist. – Getting good at anatomy. And then the look on the animal is perhaps the most important. That you feel that it is awake, that it sees you. That it does not look in all directions. The unicorn’s eye rests on us from the middle of the room. It’s bluish and piercing and mysterious. Viljar stands in the background and follows along. He has had a good working week. – Tusenfryd was the choice of most others, that’s where most people are. But I don’t think it’s as exotic as this, he says soberly. The artist looks back to 2001 For Børre Sæthre, “My Private Sky” represents a breakthrough as an artist. Both the audience and the critics liked the work at the same time. You don’t always experience that as an artist, he notes. – It was overwhelming, because it was the first time I got that kind of attention. Photo: Rune Holm Schulstad / Aftenposten When he looks at the unicorn he made as a 20-year-old, he is struck by how limitless he was. He thinks he dared. – It is nice to think that I have been there. You see a younger version of yourself, and that arouses a reaction. The unicorn arouses feelings in him because at the time he did not understand the extent of what the work was going to do for him, or what effect it was going to have on others. He sees that today. It seems like a most joyful reunion, but at the same time it may be possible to read a little ambivalence in his face. An artist who meets himself at the door, many years later, as we all do when we are confronted with the past. He works a lot with the same themes as before, but in a different way. More subtle. Not as strong a remedy as an animal. – Would you do anything differently with this work today? – It is a problem that is difficult to answer. It’s like saying: I wish I was 20 years old and knew what I know today. After the breakthrough, which was followed up with the prestigious Festspelutstillinga in Bergen in 2007, Børre Sæthre mostly worked and bid abroad. In 2021, he showed his first solo exhibition in Norway in ten years, which prompted news’s critic to write enthusiastically: “What a wonderful reunion with an artist who I hope we will see a lot of in the years to come.” Now Børre Sæthre is busier than in a long time. In parallel with the unicorn coming out again, he set up his largest installation to date at Kode in Bergen. NEW WORK: “Last Dance” at Kode in Bergen. This is the last part of a trilogy that deals with the phenomenon of “cruising” in a historical perspective, namely public places where men could meet and have sex in a time when homosexuality was criminalized. “Last Dance” at Kode in Bergen. The condoms on the ground are made of glass. “Last Dance” at Kode in Bergen. The installation was built especially for the Tårnsalen there, and is the largest Sæthre has ever made. Jumping between the old and the new has been an “interesting adjustment”, he says. – I am working on a new job where I am fully focused, and then I come back, into a time capsule. 22 years back in time. Famous guest visiting A few days before the opening, the taxidermist, artist and 14-year-old concludes that the unicorn is as good as new. Viljar blows the horn, we hear a click, before the taxidermist comments: – He woke up now. WORK WEEK: While his classmates are stocking up on clothespins and washing machines, Viljar Mysen (left) turns a horse into a unicorn. Artist Børre Sæthre follows along in the background. The three look at the unicorn. Børre Sæthre admires the beard and the slightly wilder eyebrows. – He is fresher than he has been in many years. When the unicorn is going down to the museum where he first achieved success 22 years ago, he will not be packed into the transport box, but wheeled straight in. Sæthre compares it to dressing up for a special occasion. – When you have worked with your hair for two hours, you don’t put on a hat afterwards. I still get to pet the animal quickly, feel the soft fur. It is the last chance, because while he is inside the museum he is covered by insurance and is handled with white gloves. The makeover turns out to be worth the effort. At the opening, the old trotter receives a very famous guest. After opening the museum’s 30th anniversary exhibition, Queen Sonja crawls through a window to the beautiful creature. The unicorn has become an object of art again. INSIDE THE UNICORN: Queen Sonja and artist Børre Sæthre. At the door entrance stands the director of the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Solveig Øvstebø. Photo: Abrakadabra Studio / Julie Hrncirova Photo: Astrup Fearnley Museum Astrup Fearnley The museum’s anniversary exhibition “Before Tomorrow” runs until 8 October 2023. Recommended further reading:
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