For more than 130 years, the autumn exhibition has been the scene of many scandals. Here, there have been alternating harsh insults and ear figs. Shocking works and groundbreaking new trends have been presented, and audiences have faithfully flocked throughout the generations. Although the exhibition has lost the unique position it once held as the country’s most important arena for contemporary art, it is still a beloved and very well-visited exhibition. And if there aren’t exactly that many works that will arouse fierce debate this time, the exhibition is nevertheless a rich and varied, but uneven collection of artworks by both established and more inexperienced artists. HAD A MONOPOLY: The autumn exhibition no longer has the supreme position in art life that it once had. The reason is that today it competes for attention with a wealth of other viewing arenas and exhibition institutions. Photo: Xin Li Despite this, it is nice to see that so many renowned artists still find it meaningful to submit their works to the exhibition. Photo: Xin Li “When everything we know becomes strange” by John K. Raustein is, among other things, composed of various textiles, metal pipes and wood. Photo: Xin Li Bas Ruis’ “Fountain of Youth” is a fountain made with cans of the popular energy drink Monster. Photo: Xin Li “FORSPILL / ÁLGGAHUS” by Goksøyr & Martens is a performative work that was only shown on the opening day, 9 September, based on recordings of births at Ullevål Hospital and Akershus University Hospital, from the onset of contractions until the infant’s first cry. Photo: Eva Rose Renate Dahl is exhibited with two sculptures; one, “BMI 33.2”, is cast in glava and epoxy, while the one on the right, “BMI 22.5”, is cast in chocolate. Photo: Xin Li Fin Serck-Hanssens has contributed the photographic work “Untitled (SFL) #2”. Photo: Xin Li Many well-established artists When I step into the beautiful skylight rooms in Kunstnernes Hus, it strikes me that the level this year appears to be surprisingly high. It soon becomes clear what the cause is. Well-established artists are shown here in a row: Mattias Härenstam, Lars Elling, Vanessa Baird, Fin Serch-Hansen, Lotte Konow Lund and Odd Nerdrum, to name a few. Statens Høstutstilling In 1882, a group of artists led by Christian Krohg decided to boycott Christiania Kunstforening, and to create an alternative display arena inspired by the Salon in Paris. The exhibition was a great success – there was no art academy and there were few art institutions in Norway at the time. The 2023 edition is the 136th in a row. The exhibition has largely been an annual event, which gained greater importance after it was able to move into Kunstnernes Hus in 1930. Submitted works are judged by the National Jury. These have the judging of the state art exhibition “as their most important area of work, and the artistic responsibility for the exhibition. The jury’s artistic decisions must not be justified and cannot be reviewed,” it says on the exhibition’s website. Sources: Store norske lexikon / Wikipedia / The autumn exhibition Life fluids in the body and the earth The first thing that comes to my mind is the film “The Dish”, which is shown in the restaurant. The work is part of Rita Marhaug’s performance series “Norwegian liquid”. Here we see the artist standing naked on a coral beach in a beautiful landscape in Lofoten. On the beach there is a bathtub filled to the brim with shiny, glossy oil. The artist sinks into the oil, and the bare skin is slowly dyed black, before she gradually rises again. “FATET”: The reference to AK Dolven’s iconic work with the sculptural, naked female body against the horizon is obvious. But since she brings in the oil as an additional element, this becomes much more than a paraphrase. She uses the bathtub and the sea, as an image of purification and baptism, but here the bath is transformed into something that dirties rather than washing clean. Photo: Skjermdump Marhaug is concerned with the hidden sources in humans, such as blood, milk and urine, but also those found in the interior of the earth, such as oil and gas. In the film, the skin becomes a meeting between the inside and the outside – with clear images she refers to nature’s precarious vulnerability. She uses the bathtub and the sea as an image of purification, but here transforms the bathroom into something that dirties, rather than washing. The glossy, black oil removes all characteristics, and she is transformed into a kind of representative of humanity; as a picture of life on earth, where she sits alone in the gap of the sea. “OH WHOLE”: I like the flood of orange threads in Charlotte Nilsen’s work. It’s about slowly patching yourself together after a devastating grief. Here we see how the chaos of threads is gathered and embraced at the bottom. Photo: Xin Li I like this ceramic work by Mingshu Li, which almost looks like a knitted textile. The fact that it is two-coloured gives it a certain tension and highlights the structure. I still think that the expression would have won with a more unequal distribution of the colours. Photo: Xin Li Solveig Bergene works with watercolor in a pale purple, fairy-tale style. This is very skilfully executed and in terms of form is at a high level. The work is probably not so conceptually interesting. Photo: Xin Li Another established artist is Irene Nordli, represented by an enigmatic, vase-like sculpture. At first glance it appears as if it is formless and abstract, but gradually I see various defined forms emerging; like a woman’s torso and a hand. Photo: Xin Li A stream of tears Mattias Härenstam has contributed a strange and enigmatic installation with various sculptures hanging on a circular stand. Overall, I don’t think it’s that successful, but I’m completely blown away by some of the sculptures. For example, a strange animal figure carved out of wood, which hangs like a headless carcass from the stand. There is something so intensely animalistic about the way this creature is shaped. MIXED REACTION: news’s critic thinks some of the sculptures in Härenstam’s installation are fantastic, while others leave a less strong impression. Photo: Xin Li The headless animal sculpture that hangs at the back in the middle, as well as the skull with chains on the far right, are highlighted as the strongest works in Härenstam’s installation. Photo: Xin Li I was also gripped by a black head that hangs upside down, with a gaping mouth and a chain that seems to flow out of the eyes like a stream of tears. But I don’t understand why he has pasted a picture of a face on the back of the sculpture. With this banal gesture, I feel that he destroys his strong, wordless expression. Outside and inside the Autumn Exhibition began as a rebellion against the established. Nevertheless, over the years it has been the starting point for heated discussions about outsiders. THE BODY: On the way up the wide staircase at Kunstnernes Hus, a new film makes its presence felt. It is Sara Larsen Stiansen’s “Soft Palate”, which shows a close-up of the movement of an Adam’s apple during swallowing. There is something fascinating but also uncomfortable about this close study of the body. It shows the fine line between the body’s beauty and ugliness. Photo: Xin Li Especially Odd Nerdrum and his circle have experienced themselves as excluded from the good company in Wergelandsveien. Interesting, basically – when Nerdrum has actually been included a whopping 15 times during his career. The last time he was included was in 2012. He was rejected in 2021, but then made such a fuss about the refund that he managed to take the focus from everyone who was actually included in the exhibition. This year, Nerdrum is represented with a far better image than the one that was rejected. NERDRUM: The picture shows two young men in a strange, dead landscape, and at their feet lies a child of an indeterminate age. The picture is atmospheric and dreamlike, but is somewhat ruined by anatomical difficulties. The child’s proportions are, for example, difficult to understand here. If it is a small child, the head should be considerably larger, and if it is a somewhat larger child, the body is much too small, almost like a doll. Photo: Xin Li The adults’ faces are really exquisitely painted and remind us of the format Nerdrum has as a painter. The background is also picturesquely interestingly processed with various, pale shadings in the brown. But unfortunately there are such great anatomical difficulties in the lower part of the two bodies that it disturbs the experience of the image quite seriously. I feel like cropping it: extracting the two intense faces and strung them up on a new blind frame like a perfect Nerdrum painting. DEBUTANT: The Kven artist Åsne Kummenje Mellem. has created the work “I Never Learned my Mother Tongue”. The beautiful folds that flow out of the small square box can make us think of a piece of nature bursting out of limiting frames, like a dandelion through the asphalt. I like the warm earth colors in the expression. Photo: Xin Li Solid, but not wild The ideal autumn exhibition has a perfect mix of well-established artists who bring professional solidity, but also young debutants who represent something new and preferably a bit challenging. This year, it’s really not about solidity, thanks to a large number of renowned artists. But the exhibition lacks a bit of the unpredictable, innovative and whimsical. news reviews Title: Statens Høstutstilling 2023, 136th edition. Place: Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo. Time: 9 September – 15 October. Estimated time: 40 – 120 minutes. The autumn exhibition is an artist-juried group exhibition based on free submission. This year’s jury is: Stacy Brafield Åsil Bøthun Marius Moldvær Gelawesh Waledkhani Maya Økland Read more about the Autumn exhibition on their website.
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Autumn exhibition 2023 – Reviews and recommendations
