FORMAT / DAWN
Exhibitions 7 March - 28 April 2024
Welcome to the opening Thursday 7 March at 6 pm
KARI AASEN
Feelings for Coiling
Kari Aasen is a ceramicist who primarily works with stoneware clay and porcelain, focusing mainly on sculptural objects and installations.
The interaction between the material and the hand is emphasized in her ceramic works. The focus lies on process and time through repetitive actions. She works layer by layer, analytically and intuitively. She synchronizes ideas and consciousness with emotions and intuitions in the crafting of her objects. Tactility, intensity, movement, and harmony are sensations and contrasts in her exploration between the beautiful and the aesthetically interesting.
Structures and constructions act as supportive skeletons. What is on the surface, what lies beneath, and what becomes visible through the layers? Primary forms and bases are constructed and assembled. Coiling is a simple ancient technique used to shape objects. Soft and pliable clay is rolled with the fingers, assembled, and objects are built. Meditative thoughts and reflections arise through the slow buildup of the process.
Aasen highlights craftsmanship, the intimate character, and the tactile structures on the surface. Traces of the direct ceramic process remain. Abstracted fragments of organic forms in nature, cracked and raw.
Aasen works with series as a starting point. Shades of expression vary throughout the process, and the organic visual language adds new facets within the overall structure of the series. Common, yet different. Glazes are fired layer by layer multiple times to achieve the desired expression.
Aasen is always in search of new possibilities in material variations and nuances. Tradition and renewal.
"The artist Kari Aasen works with manifestations. We are often led to believe that it is only about tangible ceramic manifestations, linked to traditional qualities such as material, craftsmanship, and form. However, it turns out that this is only part of the truth. Despite her extensive production of both small and large objects, concrete utilitarian forms and more abstract sculptural expressions, numerous material experiments, and object-rich installations, I would argue that Aasen's manifestations primarily concern something very intangible, namely ideas, time, life, and death. Her artistry appears to me as deeply existentialist; it is simply about being human; about examining the individual components of the surroundings and the transience of nature, and through this, manifesting her own wondering presence in the world."
(From art historian Mai Lahn-Johannessen's text: Traces)
Kari Aasen, (b. Bergen 1950), has her academic background from Bergen Academy of Art and Design 1974, Master's degree in specialized art from the Bergen National Academy of the Arts 2001.
Aasen has a long list of exhibitions at home and abroad: KRAFT Bergen, Format Oslo, Nordenfjeldske Trondheim, KODE Bergen, Hå Old Vicarage, Kunstbanken Hamar, Amy Lee Gallery Beijing, Kunsthall Lokstallet and Västerås Art Museum Sweden, MK Ciurlionis Lithuania, The National Museum of Foreign Art, Latvia, Elverket Finland, Nordic Herritage Museum Seattle USA, GICB in South Korea.
Acquisitions (selected): KODE, Bergen municipality, Nordenfjeldske, Västerås Art Museum, GICB South Korea. Comission art projects: Several major public space comissions, Bergen municipality, Bodø municipality, nursing homes and schools. Grants: Travel and work grants, GI, NK's Honorary Prize 2021.
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MAY BENTE ARONSEN
Soil
The two works in the exhibition are based on the artist's relationship with nature. The experience of being in and sensing nature; sunlight filtering through foliage, soft moss you can lay down in, and water finding its way through the landscape. In consumer society, where money trumps biodiversity conservation, nature lives under harsh conditions. The rapid pace of this happening worries her. The works are built up of tens of thousands of small pieces of felt attached to thin strips. This technique is new in her work and allows her to work with colors as if she were painting with a brush on canvas. She dyes the felt herself, primarily using what Johannes Itten in color theory terms as quality contrast, the clear, saturated colors against the unclear and mixed ones. Aronsen most often works with felt as a material. Textile installations that relate to space and architecture. The material is mostly wool felt, and the works are characterized by precision. Sharp-edged forms and perforated surfaces create structures and surprising spaces. For outdoor projects where textile is not a suitable material, Aronsen works with other techniques and various materials such as metal and wood.
May Bente Aronsen (b. 1962) studied at the National College of Art and Design (SHKS). She has had numerous exhibitions and public space decorations in Norway and abroad. She received the Craft Award in 2000, the Nordic Textile Award in 2007, and the Prince Eugen Medal for outstanding artistic work in 2010. Aronsen's works have been acquired by all three art and design museums in Norway, most recently by the National Museum in 2023.
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EIRIN BJØRSLAND HANSEN
Dawn
PHOENIX is a series of artworks that explores a subtle dance of colors, where shades gradually intertwine with each other. Inspired by the majestic transition between sunrise and sunset, the works delve into the story of the legendary mythical creature, the Phoenix.
The story unfolds at sunrise, where the nest is ignited by the glow of dawn. In this magical moment, both the nest and the bird burn intensely, transforming into ashes. From this ash, the Phoenix rises again as a young, renewed bird. With wings outstretched, it soars high into the sky, symbolizing a magnificent rebirth and a timeless symbol of hope and renewal.
Through the Phoenix series, the artist seeks to capture not only the visual elements of sunrise and sunset but also the profound sense of transformation and transition that these scenic events represent. Each piece is like a poetic depiction of the eternal cycle of beginning, end, and the endless journey of renewal.
Eirin Bjørsland Hansen's works range from functional to sculptural objects. Eirin begins with an intuitive transfer of her own emotional experiences. At the same time, she continuously seeks universally accessible and recognizable points of contact for a diverse audience.
Where one cannot always articulate feelings akin to grief, longing, hope, or euphoria, one can still have a visual or tactile experience that resonates with the inner experience.
Eirin Bjørsland Hansen (b. 1985) lives and works in Haugesund. She is educated at the Royal Academy in Denmark and is a co-owner of Formbar Glassverksted. Her works have been acquired by prestigious institutions such as the National Museum, KODE, and the Nordenfjeldske Museum of Applied Art in Trondheim.