On Saturday, the Autumn Exhibition opened for the 135th time. It is the most visited art exhibition in the country. Even people who don’t normally go to museums seem to find this annual muster interesting. Perhaps you go there to be inspired or shocked. The autumn exhibition’s reputation is based on just such an expectation: It will offer the shocking, innovative art. Unfortunately, it has been quite a long time since it was an arena for brand new genres and forms of expression. Today, there is little left of the “liberated spirit”, which Christian Krohg believed rested over everything. AT THE AUTUMN EXHIBITION: “Revelation” by Fredrik Raddum. Photo: Xin Li / news AT THE AUTUMN EXHIBITION: “Revelation” by Fredrik Raddum. Photo: Xin Li / news AT THE AUTUMN EXHIBITION: “Everything is connected to work, money, health and the homes we live in” by Amalie Vestergaard Olsen. Photo: Xin Li / news AT THE AUTUMN EXHIBITION: “Everything is connected to work, money, health and the homes we live in” by Amalie Vestergaard Olsen. Photo: Xin Li / news AT THE AUTUMN EXHIBITION: “Immolation (Burning Men), #1–4” by Christian Tunge. Photo: Xin Li / news AT THE AUTUMN EXHIBITION: “Immolation (Burning Men), #1–4” by Christian Tunge. Photo: Xin Li / news AT THE AUTUMN EXHIBITION: “Untitled. (Father, standing)” by Erik Hovland. Photo: Xin Li / news AT THE AUTUMN EXHIBITION: “What Am I Doing” by Andrea Galiazzo. Photo: Xin Li / news AT THE AUTUMN EXHIBITION: “If I go really slowly, I feel my soul” by Ida Westberg. Photo: Xin Li / news AT THE AUTUMN EXHIBITION: “Torso no 3” by Cecilie Lind. Photo: Xin Li / news Naturalist in good company It is somewhat exciting that artists from the more naturalistic school have been allowed through this year. Nerdrum students and others who want to work in a more old-master style have long felt excluded from Norwegian art life in general, and from the Autumn exhibition in particular. The Nerdrum-inspired, young painter William Heimdal is represented this year with a baroque-inspired painting of David’s fight against Goliath – with himself as a model. It’s fun to see how the young artist has developed over the past couple of years. DISPROPORTIONAL: “David with Goliath’s head” by William Heimdal. The body is not completely connected. The right shoulder part is oversized compared to the left, and the hand that holds the sword resembles a club. But the painting is not without painterly qualities. Photo: Xin Li / news Both the use of light and his coloring have become more secure, and the depictions of skin are far more convincing than before. For example, the differences between the grey-pale of the dead and the rosy skin of the living are well conveyed. David’s face is, on the whole, a really nice self-portrait. It is a shame that he does not execute in the flat. Much of the background lacks visual energy. He also still has considerable difficulty getting the anatomy right. But William Heimdal is only 18 years old, so there is every reason to be optimistic on his behalf. Get highlights THE KING: “Harald V” by Frode Mikal Lillesund. The sculpture attempts to recreate as precisely as possible an image of the king we all know. But so what, really? I can say it with the Danish poet Paul la Cour: “What am I going to do with all these descriptions? My imagination is then no police inspector.” Photo: Xin Li / news The autumn exhibition is always a rather uneven exhibition. But as I wander through the halls of Kunstnernes Hus, I wonder if there isn’t a little longer between the highlights than usual. In any case, it’s nice to stumble across solid artists like Shwan Dler Qaradaki, Sverre Malling and Marit Victoria Wulff Andreassen. PASTEL: “Seasons of Summoning My Grandmother” by Marit Victoria Wulff Andreassen. With pen and colored pencil on paper, she draws strange figures that have both something corporeal and something plant-like about them. Photo: Xin Li / news PASTELL: “Seasons of Summoning My Grandmother” by Marit Victoria Wulff Andreassen. With pen and colored pencil on paper, she draws strange figures that have both something corporeal and something plant-like about them. Photo: Xin Li / news PERSONAL: “To My Children” by Shwan Dler Qaradaki. He has created a beautiful and moving cinematic picture story based on watercolours. The work is based on the artist’s own dramatic story as a former refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Xin Li / news A HORSE’S HEAD IN FRONT: “Orvar-Odd” by Sverre Malling. The artist has drawn an enigmatic image of a man holding a horse’s head in his arms. Photo: Xin Li / news But I also find a few interesting works by lesser-known artists, such as Tonje Plur and Ivar Papadopoulos Samuelsen. Samuelsen has created a fascinating marker drawing that at first looks like a close-up of a pine trunk. When you get closer, however, it turns out to be a network of different faces and bodies. REQUIRES A CLOSER VIEW: “Associations on a pine trunk” by Ivar Papadopoulos Samuelsen looks at first like a sketch of a pine trunk. Photo: Xin Li / news REQUIRES A CLOSER VIEW: But if you look closely enough at the picture, a multitude of faces and bodies are revealed. Photo: Xin Li / news Plur has created a lute textile giant that is scary and beautiful at the same time. When you squint, you see a towering figure with red hands. Red pearl necklaces hang from the fingers so that it looks like the blood is dripping from them. If you look closely, you will see the beautiful, artful blazer, the magnificent jewelry and the elaborate knitted Finnish cap. The whole thing suddenly appears less dangerous. I like this duality. BLOODY, BUT BEAUTIFUL: Both with Ivar Papadopoulos Samuelsen and Tonje Plur, it is the duality of the work that gives it excitement. Photo: Xin Li / news Lack of practice After wandering through the exhibition I feel downcast. For a musician, practicing is a matter of course. This is how artists should also think. Whether you create pictures, sculptures or conceptual works, you must never stop practicing. And perhaps that is precisely what this year’s Autumn Exhibition lacks: the experience of the driven hand and the trained eye. I am not one of those who believe that the Autumn Exhibition should be discontinued. On the contrary, it is an exhibition that we must bet on. Here we have a unique opportunity to convey contemporary art to a wide audience. We should maintain both the jury and the anonymous submission. But it is really high time to give the exhibition a new form. Why can’t one, for example, present a theme that the submitters can relate to? In this way, we could make it a more interesting exhibition that perhaps more of our leading artists will want to participate in – which in turn would raise the general level. The Autumn Exhibition really needs that. news reviews Photo: Xin Li / news What: The autumn exhibition 2022 – The state’s 135th art exhibition Where: Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo Artists: 100 different artists, among them William Heimdal, Shwan Dler Quaradaki, Sverre Malling, Marit Victoria Wulff Andreassen, Tonje Plur and Ivar Papadopoulos Samuelsen. Curators: Stacy Brafield, Åsil Bøthun, Marius Moldvær, Gelawesh Waledkhani, Apichaya Wanthiang and Maya Økland. Date: September 10–16. October 2022
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“Autumn exhibition 2022” at Kunstnernes Hus – Reviews and recommendations
