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Alfred

This exhibit explores the theme of solitude in the urban environment. Catching a moment alone to breathe and think in a busy, chaotic city like this one is not necessarily an easy task. One of my favorite ways of clearing my mind is through my ‘photography-walks’ which conveniently allow me to simultaneously work with this theme. Personally these moments of reflection are a necessity to my sanity, and throughout this past year my aim has been to capture these moments to the best of my abilities. 

Apart from the streets and the people who inhabit them, street artists such as Ernest Pignon-Ernest and Blek le Rat have been my main influences. My attraction to these artists is mainly due to how they utilize the urban canvas in their work. Ernest-Pignon has been especially influential on me because of our shared love for decay, much like the walls surrounding my artworks in this very exhibition. Film Noir from the 40s and 50s have also been inspirational particularly when it comes to my photography as I always strive to make my photos look like movie stills. The Noir genre mastered the use of light and shadows to create emotionally dramatic pieces which is why I have borrowed some of their techniques to a lesser extent as my preferred effect is closer to a mild melancholy. 

Although not as harmonious and congruent with the rest of my work visually, Brooding is the piece that started it all and got me on the path I chose to take. My theme at the time was not as developed as now, but when making this piece I finally started to explore the subject of personal reflection and dealing with our internal situations. Something that has changed much more from last year to now than my subject matter are the materials and  techniques I use. This year I have explored multiple mediums including collage, film photography and whatever the 3D piece Magnus is. Corner is my attempt at replicating the previously mentioned decay and deterioration I love so much on old buildings. Instead of creating a piece on such a surface the way Ernest-Pignon does I wanted to create something resembling the surface itself. However, the biggest learning experience by far has been the progress I have made with photography.

I have shot 35mm film for a few years now at this point, but only recently I have started developing my own film. This technique is beyond outdated at this point as it is far from time or cost efficient as well as incredibly difficult technically. Most of the time the reward I get for my hard work are terrible under or overcooked images not even close to what I was aiming for as can be seen in my installation piece Practice which features a compilation of these. St. Malo is a film showing another part, but maybe the most important one, the taking of the pictures. It shows a little bit of how and what I like to shoot, from the perspective of my camera. Although it doesn’t show how I frame my photos, it shows where they come from. 

I was incredibly lucky to get the space I did in this exhibition. It looks almost as if I knew about it beforehand. The colors coincidentally go perfectly with my pieces and the texture of the decaying and crumbling walls are almost too much to ask for. The thought process behind my choices regarding the placement of my work are strongly influenced by their aesthetic harmony with one another and the walls rather than meaning. I prefer doing it this way so that the viewer can enjoy them in their own way and figure out the connections on their own. 

When people see my exhibit I want them to think of the times we spend in solitude and realize that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a negative thing. Being alone shouldn’t have to equal loneliness, and at times can actually be quite beautiful.

 

 

 

Line 6 (February 2023)

Photography Prints

126 x 120cm

Line 6 is a photo series in which the one rule I set for this roll of film was to follow the line 6 metro starting at the Bir-Hakeim bridge, crossing the Seine and wherever it took me into the 15th arrondissement. My main focus when walking the streets like the majority of my other pieces was the architecture and the people who dwell in them. The route I followed was particularly interesting as it featured contrasting people and architecture. The tourists and wedding photo shoots of the bridge and the everyday locals of the 15th. 

 

 

Line 6 (February 2023)

Photography Prints

126 x 120cm

Line 6 is a photo series in which the one rule I set for this roll of film was to follow the line 6 metro starting at the Bir-Hakeim bridge, crossing the Seine and wherever it took me into the 15th arrondissement. My main focus when walking the streets like the majority of my other pieces was the architecture and the people who dwell in them. The route I followed was particularly interesting as it featured contrasting people and architecture. The tourists and wedding photo shoots of the bridge and the everyday locals of the 15th. 

 

 

Sjappa (June 2022)

Photography prints (raw/edited)

118 x 30cmSjappa (the shop) is a photo series based on two photos taken in the same place at slightly different times. The store and my friend featured in them give me feelings of nostalgia reminding me of my old life living in my home country, Norway. These photos give off an eerie atmosphere from the start, but then take you down a short road of surrealistic warping and distortion. The techniques used vary as both originals are included while the rest are edited. I double exposed (layered two photos on top of each other) three of the images, one digitally using photoshop and the two others in a darkroom using the negative film rolls.

 

 

Corner (March 2023)

Mixed media collage on canvas

150 x 110cm

Corner is a collage based on one of my photographs. It barely resembles the original as almost all I kept was the structure of the building. One of the biggest contributions of the original to this piece is the decomposition of the walls. I greatly exaggerated this effect through the collage technique I utilised. The run-down, unkept and almost rotten state of the walls of the building is much like some one can find throughout the older areas of Paris. Much like my other piece Garage, this is another one of those aesthetics that I am weirdly attracted to. Worn and decomposed are rarely words used to describe something beautiful, but to me the peeling layers of paint is interesting as is revealing of the past. My use of imagery from historical magazines and old newspapers aims to symbolise this.

Garage (November 2021)

Acrylic on Canvas

24cm x 30cm

Garage, is a painting focusing on a small portion of one of the previously used images from the In the rough concertina. The scenery is rough and dirty here as well depicting a zoomed-in shot of metal stairs leading down from a locked door out of sight, splitting up the graffiti/vandalism in each corner of the image. The square format captures only a small part of the full scene of the original photograph, leaving the rest up to imagination. 

 

 

 

Blockish (January 2022)

Ceramic and oxides

23 x 18 x 7cm

This cubic sculpture is based on a shape chosen from the previously used photos of the concertina piece. It was a strangely shaped selection of the 5th photograph, but going through multiple distortions and reimaginations has made it nearly unrecognizable. I took inspiration from the sculpture artists David Umemoto and Arturo Berned, who are both heavily inspired by architecture.

 

 

 

 

Brooding (June 2022)

Watercolor on resin paper, wood frame

112 x 71cm

Brooding is an exploration of internal struggles and the anguish of keeping them inside. The moldy colors of the piece replace natural healthy skin, exposing the subject's true colors. The mirror reflection reveals the subject's pain, which is unknowingly visual to him. This piece was inspired by many of Francis Bacon's works thematically, and Pablo Picassos ‘blue period’ especially colorwise.

Magnus (March 2023)

Plastic sheet installation on wood 

76 x 58 x 6 cm

Magnus is a portrait of one of my Norwegian friends with the same name. The subject's face has an expression of frustration much like Brooding, but with an angrier over tone. It was originally meant to become a stencil much like the one’s artists such as Banksy and Blek le Rat use, although with more layers for more shades. Each layer represents a shade going from the black bottom layer to the white one in the front which is how a sense of depth is created. 

 

 

 

Linked (February 2022)

Charcoal on paper

50 x 65cm

Linked depicts two hands holding four links of a chain. One hand is barely holding on by the tip of the finger, while the other has it gracefully placed as if studying its beauty. The meaning of this piece is entirely up to interpretation as chains can be seen as symbols of slavery and imprisonment and of connection, love, and brotherhood. 

 

 

 

St Malo (date of completion)

Film 

2.2 minutes 

St Malo is a short film I made on a family trip to St malo in Brittany, France. The walled city is incredibly fascinating in many ways, especially historically and architecturally. Its unique looks made me want to bring my camera. Coincidentally I rediscovered my action-camera which I decided to attach to my main one. Being able to see through the eyes of my camera gives the viewer a look at the way I shoot my film and how I find the images that I want to take.