Sometimes we unwittingly stumble over our own prejudices. It can be both painful and embarrassing, but primarily it is a good thing, because it usually means that we have learned something new. When I wander into the Nordnorsk Kunstsenter in Svolvær to see an exhibition with the Sami Finnmark artist Silje Figenschou Thoresen, I have no clear idea of what to expect. But the surprise in the face of the installations created with industrial waste reveals that at least it was not this. Silje Figenschou Thoresen (in the middle) together with artist colleagues Joar Nango (left) and Sille Storihle in 2018. Figenschou Thoresen lives and works in Kirkenes, and is educated in furniture design and interior architecture at the Bergen Academy of Fine Arts and Konstfack in Stockholm. Photo: Marie Elise Nystad / news I have to admit to myself, a little embarrassed, that when an artist claims to draw inspiration from the rich, Sami duodji tradition, I obviously automatically think that it must be something sensual and close to nature. A look at materials It is easy to see that Thoresen draws inspiration from the Sami giant Iver Jåks. But which Norwegian installation artist can ignore his powerful and intuitive design? But where Jåks composes his expressions from stones, driftwood and animal bones; Thoresen takes everything from copper pipes, rubber mats, straps, cables, lead plates and ropes as a starting point. And she undoubtedly has an eye for materiality. Lead plates oxidized, some lattice forms. The distance is too great for the eye to relate to both (or all three of) these shapes at the same time. Photo: kjell ove storvik / kjell ove storvik Many of the elements in the installations have great expressive potential: She has objects that can form interesting lines and strokes as a starting point for beautiful, spatial drawings. But her problems arise in the very juxtapositions of the elements. Here the articulation is simply too weak. For the most part, I don’t think she manages to create an interaction between the objects. She can’t make the spaces come alive. Along one wall, I look at a work consisting of a number of copper pipes, wires, narrow, rectangular metal grid boxes. But it appears mostly as forgotten things; Here it looks as if the bathroom installer has gone home for the day, with plans to return tomorrow. Forgotten things? Most are seen against a yellow background. But much is also seen against a white background, which makes many of the elements disappear a little. Here there is little awareness of how we should see the expression. With these materials, one could create an effective composition of the tall vertical, painful forms against those where there are traces of something human. But here the elements are not set in any kind of relation to each other. Only wires and pipes remain. Photo: kjell ove storvik Horrible color contrast One of the more eye-catching works in the exhibition consists of thick, rubberized wires hanging in a bouquet from the ceiling. On the floor is something that looks like a broken umbrella, which is actually some tubes inside a rubber sheet. Here there is both variation between hanging, horizontal and vertical elements, and also a starting point for some nice material contrasts. I ask myself what it is that makes her still not get the materials to “talk together”. What are we seeing here? A broken umbrella? What are we going to do with it? The strong magenta creates an atmosphere that does not serve the work. Here, there is a starting point for opposites that can play together, yet the elements fall apart. Little occurs between the objects. Photo: kjell ove storvik I think it’s about her not having a conscious enough relationship with the importance of distance between things. Here, it is consistently too large, so that the eye does not read the expression as an overall composition. I am also quite disappointed by the color scheme of the room. If she wishes to make these fragile material meetings speak; flimsy copper pipes, metal clamps and wires, it’s definitely not a good idea to drown it all out with a hideous contrast between a shrill burgundy and a dirty ocher brown. Here, too, there is access to interaction. The elements themselves are not uninteresting: Some are wavy and some are square; some are light and some are dark. It is lead mesh and bubble wrap. But here, too, one could have successfully had a tighter direction and cleaned things up a bit. Photo: kjell ove storvik / kjell ove storvik In a couple of the installations there is access to something that could have been really good. Like where she combines the industrial with certain organic materials such as fists, but also processed nature such as a wooden strip and a leather cord. Although the expression would undoubtedly benefit from a cleansing – here there is far too much of everything – it at least appears as a whole that forms a fascinating waveform, with a drive from left to right. Here I think there is a power and a certain variation in the use of forms. There is too much of everything, but at least the elements relate actively to each other; like the winding leather strap against the austere wooden molding and the round metal curves. Photo: kjell ove storvik Excerpt from “News morning”, Tuesday 16 July 2024. Picture tour Fortunately, the exhibition also offers a number of pictures. Here, I think her competence is expressed much more clearly than in the installations. Here she lets paint flow and mix within two glass plates that are pressed together. The paint creates beautiful marbled shapes and flowing lines and drops that go both ways. Based on knowledge and experience, she creates an expression that is partly designed; and partly occurs randomly. In an exciting way, she imitates nature’s own shaping processes here. When I look at the picture, something that looks like a female figure emerges in the middle of the abstract. You can’t see it here, because it naturally disappears when the work is turned over. I have a sense for these pictures; I find that they explore how nature creates form. Photo: Christopher Brautaset In several of the pictures, a letter appears. I’m not sure why. But the slightly austere, industrial shape of the font brings in a foreign element into the organic painterly whole, which gives it excitement. Photo: Kjell Ove Storvik Photo: Christopher Brautaset In her pictures, she manages to put the elements in a completely different way in relation to each other. Here there are beautiful color tones and a nice variety of shapes. I stand and look at a dirty yellow shape placed on top of a lemon yellow and green background. I wonder if the artist has not gained much from the medium and the disciplinary limitations of the process. On my way out of the exhibition, I wonder if I like these images better because they correspond more to my obviously narrow expectation of what Sami art should be? They undoubtedly have all the natural, beautiful and sensuous qualities that the sculptures mostly lack. During the day and the exhibition period, these images are turned upside down several times. That is to say; there is no such thing as up and down. At the beginning of the exhibition period, this was part of the shaping process, when the paint ran both ways and down the wall, but eventually this becomes more of an invitation to the viewer to see the work from several angles. But if one were to really explore how the expression changes in this way, one should also lay the pictures horizontally. Photo: Kjell Ove Storvik But I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s not about that. Because I would have really loved it if she had succeeded in her idea of translating the sensuous Sami nature aesthetic into something raw and industrial: A stick becomes a pipe, as it were! The idea is brilliant on paper. news reviews Title: “Are there as many features that point forward as backward” Artist: Silje Figenschou Thoresen Curator: Torill Østby Haaland Location: Nordnorsk art center, Svolvær Period: 8 June – 1 September 2024 Estimated time spent in the exhibition: 20 to 40 minutes Published 16.07.2024, at 08.21
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“Are there just as many features pointing forward as backward” at Nordnorsk Kunstsenter – Reviews and recommendations
