This autumn, KODE in Bergen will show the work of the Westland duo Annette and Caroline Kierulf. It is the Kierulf sisters’ biggest museum presentation ever. For a number of years, the sisters have exhibited their work side by side, and they are often held up as innovators of woodcuts in Norway. The legacy of Munch In a world where we share reflections before we have actually thought, and pictures in the same blink of an eye as they are taken, it may seem exotic that someone sits with a chisel and carves out a motif in a wooden plate, and later prints this on paper. But here at home we have always been happy with the old imaging technique. There is probably something about the tree and the Norwegian folk spirit. Perhaps it is also about the fact that we have produced one of the foremost graphic artists in the world. Edvard Munch is so closely associated with the woodcut that many artists who use the medium automatically adopt an expressive and slightly Munch-inspired style. However, this does not apply to the Kierulf duo. They benefit quite a lot from Munch purely methodically, where they divide the printing plate into intricate puzzle pieces. But the idiom is quite different. OLD TECHNIQUE: Caroline and Annette Kierulf follow in the footsteps of Munch, but have a quite different style. Photo: Dag Fosse / KODE Top technology KODE has made 800 square meters available to the Kierulf sisters. The exhibition shows around 90 works, many of which are brand new. Annette and Caroline Kierulf refer to the woodcut as a form of rebellion and as a type of cultural criticism. They have both developed a pop-inspired, decorative and poster-like design language, where they often intertwine text and motif. They are technically very skilled, and the ticket often takes on an elegant form. Both have a project that is characterized by a clear feminist orientation. Where Caroline Kierulf goes more directly into the thematization of conventional gender roles, Annette Kierulf dwells more often on the landscape. WOODCUTTING: “Woman with catch” by Annette Kierulf (2022) WOODCUTTING: “Shy?” by Caroline Kierulf (2021) WOODCUT: “In front of the window” by Caroline Kierulf (2022) WOODCUT: “Evening light” by Annette Kierulf (2022) Best without letters As I wander through the spacious rooms at KODE, I struggle to make out innovative, rebellious and critical aspects of these works. Caroline and Annette Kierulf are both at their best when they don’t have letters and words on their photos, and let the expression speak for itself. For example, something interesting happens in Annette Kierulf’s picture “Tørrgraner” from 2022. Here we see white tree trunks against a dark forest in the background. WITHOUT A WORD: White trees stand against a dark forest in the picture “Tørrgraner”. Photo: Dag Fosse / KODE The rhythm that the repetition of the slender, light trunks creates against the dark forest silhouette, and the variation that arises from the fact that the treetops point in slightly different directions, gives the expression an excitement. Pasted storeroom Another picture by Annette Kierulf is made up of pyramid shapes in different sizes and colours: light old pink and orange in the foreground, pale olive green in the background. The triangular shapes can look like a stylized mountain range. The two leading triangles have something similar to an eye, which gives the illusion of eyes studying us. In the upper part of the image is written: “Mortgage debt is today’s rock’n’roll”. THE TEXT CLOSES: A mountain range that studies us in “Mortgage is today’s rock and roll”. Photo: Dag Fosse / KODE If the composition itself has something interesting, this is effectively drowned out by the clear textual message, which also closes all other ways into the work. I also find it difficult to see a connection between idiom and message here. To me it seems rather random and pasted on, and I don’t find this term particularly interesting either. Obvious and banal In a work by Caroline Kierulf, the picture surface is split into two-part squares. Color-wise, the image is pale blue, ochre, beige and red. A stylized human figure stands with arms outstretched in the lower part of the image, and at the top is written in fragmented and half illegible letters: “My account is empty”. Maybe it is, but what on earth am I going to do with that information? I find myself asking why, in life and death, they should weave these banal sentences into their expression. It seems that they do not trust the forms enough and therefore lean towards words and sentences. BANAL LETTERS: Human figure with open arms in “My account is empty”. Photo: Dag Fosse / KODE Must open rather than close It doesn’t have to be a bad idea to weave words into a picture, but it is undoubtedly a very demanding exercise. If you are to succeed, the words and letters must enter the composition as independent parts of the whole. It can be done as Synnøve Anker Aurdal does it in his ways of weaving – with almost sculptural word pictures, or sloppily but brilliantly as Bjarne Melgaard does it, where he scribbles in his statements by hand. In addition, it is of course important that the word or sentence actually adds something interesting, and opens rather than closes the experience of the work. As an artist, you can basically do exactly what you want, but it must be done with intensity and personality: You must be present in the expression, and I think that is consistently lacking here. I think these slogan-like pictures are marked in an impersonal way. It didn’t grab my feelings, and it didn’t trigger me intellectually either. news reports Photo: Dag Fosse / KODE What: Woodcut exhibition Artists: Annette Kierulf and Caroline Kierulf City: Hovedsalen i Stenersen, KODE 2, Bergen Date: 7 October 2022–22. January 2023
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“To create a world” on KODE – Reviews and recommendations
