In Studio K, Gunhild Sannes Larsen takes us into her exploration of painting; of its texture, materi-ality and formability.
“The exhibition is a continuation of a project that was started in 2019 when I was stuck with a painting I had been working on for a year, an abstract portrait of my grandmother. I decided to unstretch it, despite the knowledge that it would crack, as it was painted with the binder egg-tempera before I learned that you have to add oil in the paint. Dressed in white, to enter a role, I examined the canvas, wrapped myself in it, took time to linger, breathe, feel – and then fold it. It became an object: a triangular and folded painting. Some weeks later, I unpacked the painting in my grandmother’s empty house. The video documentation from these processes will be displayed in Studio K, along with the painting. Beyond that, the public will be invited into the continuation of my exploration of the formability of painting.
An important aspect of the project is the recognition of the materiality we both surround our-selves with and that we are ourselves – of the materials and of the body. With the limitations it entails. This is not something I should or can try to dissolve, it is the premises I relate to, it is what gives substance. At the same time – are the boundaries really concrete? Or are they fluid and vol-atile? The project is just as much an exploration of my own fears. I observe my own reactions and actions, examine and try to understand what makes me hold back in my artistic processes and painterly decisions. And from that position, challenge the fear.”
Gunhild Sannes Larsen (b. 1988) is a visual artist based in Bergen. She works mainly with non-figurative paintings in large format, where she is driven by an alternation between building up a complex composition with transparent color surfaces, and constantly challenging herself to simpli-fy. Gunhild is interested in the materiality of painting and she relates to it as an object, rather than just treating it as an image surface. Her practice is largely an exploration process where it is about being in, or place once-self into, a position of not knowing.
Gunhild completed her master’s degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bergen in 2021. She has a bachelor’s degree in visual communication (2019), as well as a bachelor’s degree in social work (2012). Gunhild has exhibited at Nye Bokboden, Bergen (2021), Joy Forum, Bergen (2021), Gallery FI4E, KODE 4, Bergen (2021) and Galleri Bokboden, Bergen (2018). In the spring of 2022, she par-ticipates at Østlandsutstillingen at the Nitja Center for Contemporary Art.
Opening hours:
Exhibition opening Wednesday 25.05.22: 17.00-19.00
Thursday 26.05.22: 14.00-18.00
Friday 27.05.22: 14.00-18.00
Saturday 28.05.22: 12.00-16.00
Studio K is supported by Time Kommune, Rogaland Fylkeskommune and Kulturrådet.