“Art is continuously haunted by the animal”, wrote the French theorists Gille Deleuze and Félix Guattari. And it really is true: throughout the ages, animals have been used as a means of depicting divine as well as human qualities. Dyremotiva has helped to enrich our visual and verbal narratives, our imaginary world. They have stimulated the popular imagination through fables and fairy tales, but also inspired visual artists throughout the millennia: From the masterful cave paintings of Ice Age man, the rock carvings of the Stone Age hunter, to the noble hunting scenes in the 18th century, and the sentimental depictions of pets in romanticism. In social media today, there are also few things that create more clicks and are more liked than cute kittens and pairs of dogs, especially if they do things that make them resemble humans. ELEPHANT WITH A GOOD REMEMBER: The elephant is both an adventurous, exotic animal, with an awareness of the great world around it, but it is also a symbol of majestic calm, spiritual powers, strength, wisdom, energy and good judgement. “An elephant never forgets”, we say, and he also connects to the memory in this way. Photo: Tomasz Wacko And it is precisely the human nature of animals – and perhaps indirectly the animal nature of humans – that interests the artist Petter Hepsø. Throughout his career he has explored animals through larger and smaller sculptures. Everything from sunfish and frogs to sheep, deer and elephants. He works in earthenware, wood, stone, bronze and marble. Now he is current with the extensive exhibition “Manesje” at the Telemark Art Museum in Notodden. MEDITATIVE BEAR: This is a masterpiece. A bear sitting in a lotus position as if meditating. The bear also looks out into the air with its snout. He has an open eye, but does not contact us. He is in his own world, and gives a sense of quiet. Photo: Tomasz Wacko Great experience Notodden is a rather modest and sleepy little town. A powerful and wide river course divides the small house residential area in two. Along the narrow Tinnelva there are also towering, almost castle-like factories from the beginning of the last century. In one of these factories, the Telemark Art Museum is located. The architecture and the landscape is an experience in itself and can take away from most things. But Hepsø’s parade of animal sculptures on pedestals and plinths manages to take on the competition with the stately surroundings. As I enter the open, high-ceilinged exhibition hall, I am struck by how rarely we see such pure representation of figures in contemporary art. But Hepsø does not create naturalistic renderings of the animals, like a plot in a zoology textbook. This is not about the external appearance of the animal, but their inner world – which means that we are captured and feel a deep kinship. In his sculptures, he captures something distinctive and characteristic. He reflects on the moods and qualities associated with the specific animal. Although he is preoccupied with understanding the anatomy of animals, he rarely creates his sculptures from living models. He bases himself instead on memory. Exquisite design Some of the first things that meet us when we enter the museum premises is a sitting dog with a tilted head. He seems very sad, and that gives him a human warmth. SITTING DOG: He makes the melancholy of the dog human in a way. Photo: Tomasz Wacko He, like many of Hepsø’s animals, has his eyes closed. A living dog will often be searching and outward-looking, but this one has its consciousness turned inward. We approach the inner cosmos of an animal that is nevertheless inaccessible to us. And that is the enigmatic thing about the animals Hepsø is so good at portraying. He is also an exquisite designer. His work often has a double bottom, like a beautiful skate fish on the wall, which can be seen both as a portrait of this peculiar fish, but also as a purely abstract form. Hepsø mocks the tradition of decorating the house with stuffed animals, and plays on our preconceptions that animals have human qualities. We think of the fox as cunning, the wolf as greedy, the steer as stupid, the elephant as wise and the teddy bear as good-natured. Perhaps our deep and abiding interest in animals stems precisely from the fact that we see ourselves in them? MEDITATIVE DEER: A striking sculpture is a large seated wooden deer. There is a nice variation in shape between the full head shape and the thin, pointed branches in the antlers. This animal is also introverted and closed in on itself in a kind of meditative calm. Nevertheless, the snout is lifted as if it is peering into the air, orienting itself through the sense of smell, as animals often do. Photo: Tomasz Wacko Petter Hepsø’s animal sculptures are characterized by a gentle humour, but also have a grave seriousness. The sculptures are poignant because through them we come into contact with something fundamentally animal, but also with some primordial qualities. On the way out of the mighty brick castle, I think that Petter Hepsø is one of our foremost figurative artists. news reports Photo: Tomasz Wacko Title: “Petter Hepsø – Manesje” City: Telemark art museum, Notodden Period: 29 April–13 August 2023 Curators: Susanne Grina Lange and Kathrine Lund at Telemark Art Museum Time you should set aside: 30–60 minutes
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“Petter Hepsø – Manesje” at Telemark Art Museum, Notodden – Reviews and recommendations
