Iver Jåks is an incredibly important figure in the Norwegian context. He was one of the few Sami artists who gained a place in the Norwegian art canon early on. When I was a young art student around the turn of the millennium, he was the only Sami artist whose name I knew. I remember often passing by his powerful installation of animal antlers, which was on permanent display at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Jåks developed a universal, Sami modernism. He built a bridge between the rich Sami craft tradition and the Western, modernist art regime. Iver Jåks Photo: Tom-Egil Jensen/VG / NTB Iver Jåks was a Sami artist who was born on 25 October 1932 in Karasjok and died on 17 March 2007. Also known by the Sami name Ánddir Ivvár Ivvár. Worked as a draftsman, painter, craftsman and sculptor, and emphasized the preservation of Sami roots and traditions. From the 1950s, Jåks also illustrated a number of school books, children’s books, fiction books, and contributed to children’s programs for news. He made his debut at the North Norwegian Art Exhibition in 1959, and this began a career of over 40 years with numerous participation in exhibitions and a number of public commissions. Made a significant contribution to organizational life and as a cultural worker. Became a state scholarship from 1988. Was awarded the Norwegian Culture Council’s honorary prize in 1992 and appointed Knight of the 1st class of the Order of St. Olav in 2002. An art historical giant Now the small gallery Stormen Art is showing an exhibition with this giant in Norwegian modern art history. The exhibition is part of the grand opening of the year in which Bodø is the European Capital of Culture. On the way north, I feel that I am looking forward to it like a little child. Far too few exhibitions have been made with Iver Jåks. I think it is strange and objectionable that none of the major museums has taken responsibility for creating a broad-spectrum presentation of this important artistry. Now I know in advance that there cannot be any big exhibition in Bodø. The screening room at Stormen is relatively small. But I hope that perhaps they will consider using a few more rooms, and that it will be possible to see a few more works in context. NATURE’S SCRAPS: Driftwood, sticks, roughly hewn wooden elements and reindeer antlers. Based on the materials, we would probably ask ourselves if it wasn’t a Jåks work, but on closer inspection we might start to doubt a little. Because it is quite obvious that the characteristic strength of form is missing. It all seems a bit unmotivated. Here, it has not been possible to bring the elements into play in meeting each other. Photo: Stormen kunst/dájdda Free reconstruction The exhibition turns out to only embrace two works. These are two installations that occupy a kind of special position in Jåk’s artistry. He has not given any recipes or instructions on how the elements in the installations should be arranged. On the contrary, he encourages free reconstruction of the individual parts. Standing in the gallery room, I feel a little disappointed and very excited at the same time. Disappointed because the feeling of coming into contact with the great Iver Jåks diminishes a little when I know that it is the curator who has shaped the whole (albeit with material elements that Jåks has collected and processed). But also excited because I didn’t know this side of his artistry, where, like a conceptualist à la John Cage or Sol Le Witt, he invites something random into his expression. Here he initiates a living unpredictable process that is beyond his own control. As Cage would put it, he “does not display a competence, but exposes himself to incompetence.” LACK OF AWARENESS: Here I get the feeling that many of the objects have somehow not been put to use; That the things do not work together in the form composition. Some of these wooden sticks are just sitting there, as if waiting to be cleaned back in their box. I don’t feel that formal and conscious tensions arise here: like the soft against the hard, the dark against the light, the vertical against the horizontal, etc. Neither the objects nor the spaces live as they always do with Iver Jåks. Photo: Stormen kunst/dájdda An insane arrogance and incompetence unfortunately become a key word. Because this is not going very well. I don’t know whether to cry or laugh at the audacity of re-creating and re-caulking an installation by such an intuitive, brilliant designer as Iver Jåks. In his installations, he always makes clear choices of form. He is a master at making the spaces as tense and alive as the objects themselves. He makes the elements “talk together.” It doesn’t happen in the gallery room at Stormen. “DANCE OF THE GODS”: This work from 1972 is not included in this exhibition. But here Iver Jåks is shown as the powerful shaper that he is. His strong sense of rhythm and the experience that the form springs from the materiality. Photo: Liv Engholm / RiddoDuottarMuseat It is questionable whether one of our greatest artists should not be brought in here, a formalist of rank who could do this in his very own way – as a worthy homage to Jåks. But this is probably also always a question of budget. Especially because Jåks is not very well known, I think it is a shame when these two installations are shown in isolation. Unfortunately, it gives a slightly distorted picture of this powerful artistry. But the exhibition should have that I learned something completely new about Jåks. In that sense, it was enriching after all! news reviews Photo: Stormen kunst/dájdd Title: “Iver Jåks” Curator: Stian Hansen (co-curator Kristoffer Dolmen) Institution: Stormen Kunst City: Bodø Period: 4 February to 31 March Estimated time: 15 to 30 minutes
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Iver Jåks ved Stormen, Bodø – news Culture and entertainment
