Limbus 2010 - Gulden Kunstverk

I have now exhibited in the most beautiful gallery in Norway.

I was contacted by Walter Welo at Gulden Kunstverk after a show at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo 2007, and we started planning for a solo show in 2010.

Gulden Kunstverk opened in 1985, and is now recognized as one of the more established art institutions in south-east Norway. Their newest gallery space is a beautiful two-story white hall with marble floors - the perfect setting for my newest project Limbus.

Limbus is a latin term used by theologians in the dark ages, describing a state in which a soul meets the criteria for neither heaven nor hell, and so ends up suspended in a state of 'nothingness' - neither here nor there. Rather than focusing on the religious aspect of the term, I wanted to explore the sense of suspense implied - the hesitant, quiet, indecisive state of limbo; An indefinite moment with an unknown past or future.

Limbus was a natural supplication for the project Primal Relations (described in earlier blog post), but rather than including only works from that series, I decided to include

a few earlier works and also a few very recent ones. In the end we decided to include a total of 43 paintings and drawings - including a couple of paintings made as early as 2005, when I was still attending college in Edinburgh.

I was a bit worried about the scale of the show before I arrived with my work. The gallery is absolutely huge, and my work is quite small. But it ended up being perfect - aestethically my most successful show to date - in my opinion.

The show opened on the 28th of August, and lasted until the 19th of September. On the last two days the gallery arranged for a short artist talk and a tour of the exhibition.

Chelsea College of Art and Design - MA Fine Art

Since my graduation from Edinburgh College of Art in 2007, I had been talking about doing an MA Fine Art in London. In retrospect I could probably have applied for a course right away, but the time didn't seem quite right before now. I felt that I needed to explore and experience what it means to be a self-employed artist.

This year however, I decided to finally stop talking about it and apply for an MA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art. My reasons for choosing Chelsea were based upon the fact that it is a one year only course, and most importantly - I like the way their course is structured. So I went for an interview at the end of March, and received my acceptance letter a few weeks later.

The course begins in October, and I am very much looking forward to being a student again.

Primal Relations - Ramfjord Gallery 2010

I opened my first solo show in Oslo 6th of February 2010 at Ramfjord Gallery. The idea was to show as much as possible of the new work from the Primal Relations project (see previous blog post). As it turned out, I was only halfway through the project when the show opened at Ramfjord, so a fair few earlier works were included as well - amongst them a few drawings from Faber Castell and the Years of Distraction.

The show lasted until the 28th of February, and I kept working on Primal Relations during the spring months.

Primal Relations

After the end of my drawing project Faber Castell and the Years of Distraction for the Drawing Centre in Oslo in 2009, I decided to change my approach to compositions and content. I felt that my fairly intuitive search for source material and subject matter worked quite well, but the end products left me with a sense of confinement. Although I felt that I had been fairly free in the construction of each drawing, this did not come clearly across - leaving the images a bit lifeless to me.

So I decided to expand my research and go in search of something new.

After a few less successful attempts to find a topic that could fuel my work, I remembered something I had overheard being said about emotional 'space' between individuals. I have always been interested in the more subtle sides to conversation or perhaps more the interaction itself - the cause and effect of individual efforts to be understood. The Gestalt psychologists introduced to science the ancient Greek concept "the whole is more than the sum of the parts", and I felt that this is particularly true in human interaction.

So I decided to start a project called Primal Relations. The aim was to create a body of work towards my solo show (Ramfjord Gallery, Oslo, February 2010) where I would construct compositions intuitively trying to put this principle into action. At the start I would do this by allowing myself to include whatever I wanted, but I soon discovered that more and more animals entered my compositions - either by themselves, or animal parts on humans. This was not my intention to start off with, but I felt that I had to allow for it to unfold.

In the end Primal Relations became more about the human potential than mere conversation or interaction. I became increasingly fascinated by what we as humans are able to create, or believe - just by deciding to do so. Just think of the social norms and roles we constantly adapt to; delusions or abstract concepts that can become truths simply because enough individuals decides to believe.

I think the two drawings Kings and Benediction (below) might be the best example of this. Personally I believe there is immense potential in our ability to create our own

reality in this way, and it gives me a great sense of responsibility when I think of my own interaction with people around me.

New work!

After a big solo show, like the one I had at the Drawing Centre in Oslo in May, it's easy to feel a bit deflated. It's such a specific focal point, so it takes a few weeks to reset. I have therefore spent the summer drawing and reflecting. The results have started to emerge in the form of brand new works. I have planned a series of paintings, and have already finished a few drawings. This time, rather than focus on the individual in the crowd, I want to research that which is between individuals - the feelings or atmospheres that are more than the subjective emotions, something that can only exist where there are more than one person - or creature.

At the moment, two of the first drawings in this project are exhibited at Ramfjord's annual celebratory show. I have called them 'Bird Family' (below) and 'Girl Cow' (above) - non-committing, purely descriptive titles to avoid uncomfortable confusion regarding the subject matter.
Both works are pencil on paper, 30x30 cm and framed in nice, nice big frames. I've temporarily called the series 'Primal relations'.

As soon as I am able, I will update my web page with more new images - the work that is currently there is unfortunately older stuff only.

Meanwhile some work can be seen at the Ramfjord show in Oslo (www.galleriramfjord.no), at the Paisley Museum of Art in Scotland (Azpect Price), or at the Drawing Centre in Oslo as usual. Another possibility is obviously to contact me for a studio visit here in Edinburgh. There are no upcoming shows here at the moment, but I am trying to correct that and will keep you posted.

Festival Art 2009

Early in 2009 I was asked by the municipalities of Flesberg and Nore and Uvdal in Norway to represent the contemporary art section of their upcoming festival Middelalderuka 2009. The festival is an annual cultural event for the county with events ranging from concerts and theatre to craft and contemporary art.
I was assingend a space in their only gallery - Oddmundhuset, which is the old studio of the artist Oddmund Kristiansen. The show opened on the 26th of July and lasted for a week. I took the opportunity to show a collection of both old and new work - a premature retrospective so to speak.
The show was well received, and had a few hundred visitors. I also had to do my first live interview on national radio (NRK P1) and a few talks to local news reporters. The radio talk was very short, and I was extremely nervous, so I probably didn't make much sense.
On Friday the 31st, I invited some old customers and contacts to an open forum artist talk. As usual, I think the talk was as much to my benefit as theirs, as I had to make sense of a lot of things that hadn't been put into words before.

http://www.laagendalsposten.no/article/20090506/KULTUR/548471019/-1/Nore
http://www.fellesradet.no/default.aspx?MenuID=5804&ArticleID=88458

Østlandsutstillingen 2009 - update

I promised in an earlier blog to post an update on the annual eastern Norwegian show - Østlandsutstillingen 2009. The show re-opened on the 15th of August at Studio STAG gallery in Vestfossen. The gallery is part of a large refurbished industrial estate in the small town of Vestfossen. Opening in 2004, they are now one of Norway's significant exhibitors of contemporary art. The venue receives government funding and the project is a member of the European network of independent cultural centres, Trans Europe Halles. The network brings together about fifty multidisciplinary and socially engaged member centres throughout Europe. Most centres are located in buildings from industrial heritage and have taken important action in challenging the established cultural policy.

Østlandsutstillingen 2009 is hosted by the artist group STAG. This year over 600 arists and 1500 works were submitted - 60 artworks were chosen, and one of them was my drawing.

http://www.ostlandsutstillingen.no

RSA Spring Open Exhibition 2009

Finally some Edinburgh news. Applied for the RSA annual spring show for the first time this year - both Marie and myself for once - and we both got in.

The show is on between 18th April and 20th May in the RSA Lower Galleries, and it consists of small scale works by members and selected non members of the Royal Scottish Academy (us amongst the latter). I'm yet to see it due to travelling, but will pop by next week.

Østlandsutstillingen 2009

I applied for the second time to the annual Norwegian show Østlandsutstillingen this year - and got one work accepted! I am very happy.
There are 4 different shows like this in Norway every year, divided into 4 areas - north, south, east and west. I submitted 3 works initially , and one got through to the 2nd round - then I got a phonecall from the staff asking if I would accept showing it unframed , which I accepted. A few days later I got a letter through with the acceptance. The show will be shown in Oslo's Skårer Gallery in May/June and in Klevfoss Industrial Museum. I believe it will be shown in Schleswig-Holstein and Lubeck (Germany) later. The information coming my way this far is yet sparse.
The drawing submitted is one of my 22x22 cm self-portraits (above) - pencil on paper from 2008. Will update as soon as I get more information.

Faber-Castell and the Years of Distraction

I got there in the end! 20 brand new drawings, all a little bigger and hopefully a little better. Since I got my application accepted for a show at the Drawing Centre in Oslo back in 2007, I had been both looking forward to and dreading the show when it opened the 18th of April.
I decided to create a uniform one-line set of drawings based on the loose term 'crowds' in the end. I had initially decided to do less than ten huge drawings based on something entirely different, but it just wasn't the right time for me. I got too intrigued by some photos I took in the Chinese part of London, and that sparked a whole new view on old research material. I started drawing in November last year, and didn't stop until early April. I hope the result speaks for itself, because I feel quite tired of talking about them. It is now to me a tired old conversation that has gone on way too long (since November).
The staff at the Drawing Centre had arranged for a couple of artist conversations - one for the guides before the opening, and one for the public the day after. I'm grateful for sharing the talk with the much more experienced Snøfrid Hunsbedt Eiene - the artist I shared the gallery with. She created a very calm, but reflective forum on both occasions, and I left feeling relieved of a much smaller verbal burden than usual (this is a good thing - trust me).

The show will be on until the 10th of May, so please feel free to visit. The Drawing Centre's Gallery can be found in the old part of Oslo, in Rådhusgaten 17.

Spring Update

Ok, so it took me a while to get over the shock of being part of a week-long art auction. Will Not Do It Again!
I felt so optimistic handing 4 works in - 3 drawings and a painting. The gallery promised me publicity and good things to come out of it, but I think that would be more true for them than for me (They did in all fairness warn me a little beforehand). Anyway... I sold all my work, which is good, right? Only all but one sold for a third of the price! Don't get me wrong - I needed the money, but I do try to be reasonable with the prices in the first place, so the profit is never much even at full price. Oh, well. As it works out it's a pretty good excuse not to write my blog until it's almost May, right?
My real excuse is that I have been working really hard from November 2008 to early April 2009 on a body of drawings for the Drawing Centre show in Oslo. 20 works in 6 months. I'm quite pleased. I also worked on a few commissions in the weekends, and have started a new series of paintings. The photo is of one of the commissions.

2009

Happy new year! 2009 will be a good year - I'm sure of it - so I might as well start by mentioning events from 2008.

The November Show at Ramfjord went well, and the Christmas shows at both Ramfjord and Thompson's Marylebone Gallery were both well received I believe. I must apologise however, to those of you who decided to see my work at Thompson's. Not much to see this time unfortunately, and my works were badly hung and ill treated - which is a shame as the people at Thompson's are very friendly. Hope you got around to see the Ramfjord shows, as they were to a much better standard. One of my paintings can also still be seen at Kunstnernes Hus until the 11th of January.

I'm starting 2009 with great excitement and optimism. The first event will take place at Ramfjord, as 4 of my works are part of their annual one-week-long art auction. It is my first time, so I'm very excited. The works can be seen at Ramfjord's web page www.galleriramfjord.no and obviously in their 3 departments in Oslo from the 12th of January and a week onwards. The gallery will be open all days the whole week.

At the moment I am working hard towards my big show at the Drawing Centre in Oslo in April/May. I am in the midst of producing a whole new collection of crowd-based drawings towards that show, whilst trying to set aside some time for the show at Ramfjord at the same time.

I will keep you up to date with more specific dates and works as the time draws closer.

Ramfjord 2008 opening!

Two days left until the opening of the Ramfjord show. I'm very excited to see everyone's work. I've posted an article in Norwegian below. Sorry to those who can't understand it. It was written by Tone Skjervold in the Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv yesterday after a phone-interview done the day before. I landed in Norway a few hours ago with Marie, and we are looking forward to the opening at 12 o'clock at Ramfjord's 1st department in Frydenlundsgate 17. I hope to see lots of familiar faces there. Further details can be found at Ramfjord's web page www.galleriramfjord.no

Ramfjord 2008

På kanten-bilder

- Kunsten min er nok litt på kanten når det kommer til personvern, sier "spionen", "sladrekjerringa" og kunstneren Kristian Evju.

Tonje Skjervold

kunst

Noen gang tar han seg selv i å sitte og glane.

- Man blir jo betatt! Jeg lager meg små historier: Hva snakker de om, krangler de? Har de en affære? Er de kjærester på ordentlig? Jeg er skikkelig nysgjerrig. Ofte tenker jeg at jeg nærmest er en sladrekjerring, sier Kristian Evju til D2.no.

Den 28 år gamle London-baserte norske kunstneren er aktuell som en av flere kunstnere på utstillingen "Kollektivutstilling" som åpner på Galleri Ramfjord førstkommende lørdag.

Selvportrett sammen med kjæresten som også er kunstner og bor sammen med Evju i London.

Spør ikke først
- Kunsten min er nok litt på kanten når det kommer til personvern, og jeg kan sikkert lett bli saksøkt - altså, dersom noen skulle finne på å ville det. Det er ikke alltid det passer seg å be om lov til å bruke et fotografi i kunsten min.

- Hadde jeg spurt alle jeg fotograferer om lov til å ta bilde, så hadde det blitt et helt annet motiv som jeg ikke ville kunne bruke til noe. Jeg tegner fra fotografier til et visst punkt, før jeg legger vekk bildet og tegner videre ut fra hodet, forklarer kunstneren.

Evjus billedkunst kan lett forveksles med ekte fotografier, men er kun maling og tegning - akryl på plate og blyant på papir.

Kunst med reality-preg
- Kunsten min bærer preg av reality-begrepet. Jeg liker å komme tett innpå folk, smugkikke inn i deres hverdagsliv og det private, spionere litt. Det er jo det jeg gjør, bare at jeg tegner eller maler. En slags visuell bloggføring fra det offentlige rom, sier han.

Kristian Evju prøver å gi hverdagslivets ubetydelige ting verdi.

- Det skjer så mye vakkert! Jeg bedriver på en måte en skattejakt, der jeg tar bilder av ting, siler ut inntrykk, og sitter igjen med noe konkret og lett tilgjengelig, sier han.

Evjus billedkunst kan lett forveksles med ekte fotografier, men er kun maling og tegning.

Nå jobber Evju med et bilde der han bruker et fotografi tatt midt i China Town i London, av et titall mennesker. Ingen ble spurt om lov på forhånd.

Kristian Evju er utdannet fra Edinburgh College of Art, og vant KEM's Debutantpris under Høstutstillingen i 2007.

"Kollektivutstilling" ved Galleri Ramfjord åpner lørdag 8.11 og står frem til 30.11. Med på utstillingen er; Kristian Evju, Jan Ove Ringstad, Ann Mari Sørhøy, Andrew Barton, Jørn Hagen og Heidi Øiseth.

Evju vant KEM's Debutantpris under Høstutstillingen i 2007.

Exhibition update

It seems like my two remaining months in 2008 are going to be busy ones. I've got 3 separate shows coming up quickly.

Saturday 8Th of November marks the opening of Gallery Ramfjord's November Show 2008. The show will be held in their Frydenlundsgate department, which is also the original Ramfjord gallery. Their curator Siri Kvestad selected 9 of my works - both paintings and drawings - to be shown amongst work by 4 other artists working in different disciplines:
Andrew Barton - sculpture
Ann Mari Sørhøy - painting
Heidi Øiseth - painting
Jørn Hagen - photo

The show opens at 12 o'clock on the 8Th, and will be on show until the 30Th.

I've also been invited to show some drawings at the Thompson's Marylebone Gallery's annual Christmas Show. The show will be on between the 3rd and the 23rd of November.

I will be back in Ramfjord with some drawings or smaller paintings in December for their annual Christmas Show. This one also in the Frydenlundsgate gallery, and it features a number of artists having exhibited earlier in 2008. The Ramfjord Christmas Show will open on the 4Th of December and last until the 21st. I will keep you posted on all shows as they proceed. I will also notify you when the web page has been updated.

NOTE: I know there has been some problems with the loading of certain pages on my web page, and I have also had complaints about the email address art@kristianevju.com being unreliable. If you have experienced this, please let me know, and please send emails to kristian.evju@gmail.com if I don't respond on the art@kristianevju.com address. I apologise for any inconvenience.

Ramfjord Gallery 2008

When you are an artist, things seem to develop quite randomly. One of the good Oslo galleries - Ramfjord - is my 'friend' on facebook, and I don't know if that is the reason, or because they saw me in the Autumn exhibition or Juvenarte last year, but they asked me to be part of their 10 year anniversary exhibition in August. They opened their 3rd department in Schwensensgate 1 earlier this year, so I felt priviliged to be selected as one of the 20 external artists. The show consisted of 40 artists altogether. All three galleries were in use, so it was quite a large show. I was represented with two works - Nefertari Broom 2 (2008) 110x110 cm, acrylic on board, and KToT46d (2008) 22x22 cm, pencil on paper. Both images were well received, and as a result of the show, I have been offered a solo show in Schwensensgate 1 in February 2010. They initially wanted it in April 2009, but as previously mentioned, I am going to have my hands full with my solo show in Tegnerforbundet. I will, however participate in a few joint shows in Ramfjord before 2007. The first one opens the 8th of November 2008. I will write more about it when the time comes.

New Paintings at Autumn Exhibition

I have started painting again! And it's a wonderful feeling although my first brush-strokes were somewhat nervous. I have been drawing non-stop since the end of my degree show last year, but I have barely touched my brushes, so this is a quite big thing for me.

At the moment I have almost finished my two first paintings, and I've started the third one. The first two paintings are continuations of the Series 2 paintings (see web page) from 2007. They are both 50x60 cm acrylic on board - the inspiration is a mixture of Egyptian art, intimacy and everyday objects - but I think (and hope) the finished products might communicate something quite different. These two first paintings will most likely be part of the Autumn Exhibition at Thompson's Marylebone Gallery in London 27th September - October 12th this year.

http://www.thompsonsgallery.com/Marylebone/InternalMain.asp

Above: EPiK13p (2008) 50x60 cm, acrylic on board

Touring with Tegnerforbundet

I have mentioned earlier that I am a proud member of the Norwegian society of draftsmen/women Tegnerforbundet. I try to constantly keep my work updated and on show in their little showroom in Oslo, and I will exhibit in their gallery in April next year. The people at Tegnerforbundet have organized a touring show of about 20 artists in collab0ration with Norges Kunstforeninger (Art Societies of Norway). This show has been touring around the country for a while now, but I recently got an email from Tegnerforbundet asking if 2 of my drawings could be added to the collection. I feel honoured by the request, and have obviously said yes. I don't know much about the dates or locations of the show yet, but I will try to keep the blog up to date on the developments. The first show opened in Heimdal Kunstforening on the 1st of June and will last until the 22nd.

Successful Kongsberg Exhibition

Coming home after a long period spent abroad is something I generally appreciate and think of with undivided joy and excitement in my private life. An artistic 'homecoming' however, can be an altogether different affair. I must admit that my heart was beating a bit faster as I parked the car outside Kongsberg Kunstforening on the Saturday of the opening of my solo show. I had no idea if anyone would turn up, or what friends and family would think about my work. On one hand they are friends and family - they want your work to be good, and even if they don't appreciate the work, you know that they like you. On the other hand - their opinion does seem to matter so much more, doesn't it? As I climbed the stairs towards the gallery entrance, I spotted Jørn Hagen wringing his hands nervously in the doorway. I obviously thought - there is no one here! My first solo show is a complete disaster! - as I thought he was the only one there. As it turned out, he was just waiting for me, and the gallery was reassuringly packed with people waiting for me with flowers and a few carefully prepared, kind words.
The thing is - as I am completely fresh and inexperienced in the exhibition venue, I honestly don't know what to expect on these occasions. I'm more used to the group shows, where I sneak in half an hour after the opening, trying not to hang around my work too much, and almost feel guilty for being there. So I'm very greatful for all the people that showed up, and to all the new owners of my drawings and paintings. Thank you very much!
I was unfortunately not able to attend more than 3 days of the whole show personally, but a few people managed to get in touch and arrange for a chat, which was very nice. If anyone didn't manage to get ahold of me during the exhibition, please feel free to contact me now.

For those who didn't manage to see the exhibition, some of my drawings will be shown at different Norwegian art societies as part of Tegnerforbundet (the Norwegian Draftmen's Society) and Norges Kunstnerforbund's touring exhibition 2008/09. Some of my work will also be available at Galleri Ramfjord's Stipendutstilling in Oslo in August and at Thompson's Marylebone Gallery in London in September this year. I will write more about this later.

Kongsberg Kunstforening - solo show in Kongsberg

Saturday the 5th of April marks the opening day of my first solo show after graduation. It will take place at Låven Gallery in Kongsberg - the closest thing I have to a home town. The gallery is owned by Kongsberg Kunstforening - which is the local art society. The show will consist of approximately 25 pieces of work, where the main body is made up of drawings.

I am very excited about this show, as it will be my first show in Kongsberg, and I know a lot of people are looking forward to it as well. There will be quite a few new pieces that have never been shown before, but also some older paintings from my early college years. I will be there on the opening night and I will be available for appointments on the 6th, 18th, 19th and the last day, which is Sunday the 20th of April.

The gallery will be open all days 1pm - 5pm (except Mondays) from the 5th to the 20th of April.

http://www.kongsbergkunst.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=31