Synnøve Anker Aurdal, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo
When works by Synnøve Anker Aurdal (1908–2000) are exhibited throughout the Astrup Fearnley Museum, it is worth remembering that barely two decades have passed since a small group of students in the textile programme at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts tried, on their own initiative, to have Hannah Ryggen exhibited in a Norwegian art institution – and were rejected. However, they did not give up, and their pluck indirectly contributed to Ryggen’s tapestries being seen and later exhibited in the Fridericianum during Documenta 13 in 2014. Several textile-based artists, including Sámi artist Britta Marakatt-Labba, have achieved international recognition in the last decade, and it is entirely appropriate that Aurdal, who is among our leading artists expressing themselves through the use of tapestry, is now recognised.
Sean Snyder, Room 11 (Virtually Real), Guttormsgaard Archive, Blaker
Central to Sean Snyder’s exhibition Room 11 (Virtually Real) at Guttormsgaard Archive was Peder Balke’s (1804–1887) painting Et havparti (The Sea Party, ca 1870), of landscape and light. The painting’s subject matter appears to mysteriously dissolve due to the use of flat brushstrokes and few gradations between the black and white. Balke’s pared-back palette and brushwork point beyond his own time towards an abstract potentiality in painting. In the installation, Snyder arranged black geometric shapes – recalling Kazimir Malevich’s (1879–1935) black cubes – which the brain seeks to interpret within a framework of logical structures. Through precise visual devices and variations in media, Snyder is able to develop unexpected ideas about painting, but also about much more.
Light & Space, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen
Light & Space at Copenhagen Contemporary was a highlight this year. The exhibition showed older and new works by artists belonging to a group known as “the light and space movement,” which originated in Los Angeles in the 1960s. The exhibition was technologically sophisticated, and it took me two visits (the second time, with my loved one) and an engaged and knowledgeable tour guide who explained how certain works were conceived and produced, before I felt I was done with the exhibition. Despite the time elapsed since their creation, these historical works remain affecting.
Hans Hamid Rasmussen is an artist based in Oslo. He holds a position as professor in textile art at the National Academy of the Arts in Oslo. Recently he published the book Elva er et annet sted (The River is a Different Place) in collaboration with Guttormsgaard Archive. His exhibition Uneven Transitions will open at Trafo Kunsthall in March 2023.
For this year’s contributions to Kunstkritikk’s Advent Calendar, see here.
