Evju Art

Limbus 2010 - Gulden Kunstverk

2010-10-02T12:55:00.015+01:00

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

2010-09-28T18:01:00.004+01:00

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

2010-09-28T17:24:00.004+01:00

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

2010-09-27T18:36:00.001+01:00

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!

2009-08-26T14:23:00.004+01:00

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

2009-08-26T13:47:00.007+01:00

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

2009-08-26T12:29:00.003+01:00

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

2009-05-01T10:51:00.002+01:00

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

2009-04-30T16:16:00.005+01:00

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

2009-04-30T09:14:00.006+01:00

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

2009-04-30T08:45:00.004+01:00

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

2009-01-07T15:34:00.004Z

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!

2008-11-06T17:07:00.003Z

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

2008-11-06T16:53:00.004Z

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

2008-10-22T18:33:00.005+01:00

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

2008-09-02T09:36:00.005+01:00

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

2008-06-08T14:11:00.005+01:00

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

2008-06-08T13:44:00.003+01:00

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

2008-06-08T12:37:00.005+01:00

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

2008-03-12T16:05:00.005Z

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

The Scottish Show

2008-02-20T16:57:00.004Z

I was left a card from The Thompson's Gallery in Marylebone, London at my degree show in June last year. It said on the back that they would like me to contact them as soon as I moved down to London. I didn't get around to dropping by until last month this year, but they were very friendly and welcoming, and they also asked me if I wanted to show some work in their upcoming exhibition The Scottish Show which is on from the 3rd - 20th of March. So they will show three of my drawings (GiG36d, SLaB33d and KHiP27d) and a painting (MRDaDs11p). Aside from the Joint Exhibition of Drawings at the Prince's Drawing School, this will actually be my first show in London after graduation. The exhibition consists of work by both established and emerging Scottish artists.

MRDaDs11p (2007)

85x100 cm, acrylic on board

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

New Faces 2008 Update

2008-02-20T16:40:00.003Z

I spent last weekend in in Edinburgh, as the private view for New Faces 2008 was on 11am - 1pm on Saturday. The weather was glorious, and it struck me - yet again - what a beautiful city it is. I feel privileged to have spent four years of my life there. I believe the opening of New Faces 2008 on Friday the 15th went well. I only attended the private view on Saturday.

The exhibition will, as I have mentioned earlier, be on until the 1st of March. They are open 6 days a week. Mon-Friday 11am-5.00, Sat 11am-4pm or by appointment by calling 0131 553 5255.

Tegnerforbundet - exhibition and membership

2008-02-06T11:09:00.000Z

Tegnerforbundet, or the Norwegian Society of Draftsmen, was founded in 1916 and is the oldest of the societies for visual arts in Norway. Tegnerforbundet became a member of Norske Billedkunstnere (NBK- Norwegian Visual Artists) in 1982. I was already a member of NBK through UKS (Unge Kunstneres Samfund - Young Artists Society) when I applied for membership in 2007, and I am now also a full member of Tegnerforbundet. Its members are professional artists sharing similar economical, artistic and professional interests, and their 'office building' has become a centre offering support, information, exhibition opportunities as well as a professional forum for draftsmen and illustrators. The members' work are available for commissions and sale alongside portfolios and catalogues in the Commission Room at the back of the gallery space. The society's second-most important function is perhaps as a show room or gallery space. I applied for an exhbition space at the gallery in 2007 and was granted a show in April 2009. I am very happy about that as it is my first attempt - and getting a show there is quite hard.

I've currently got Hfi3d, HMaG2d and KCCaD28d hanging in their Commission Room, and catalogues of my work are also available.
Tegnerforbundet is located in an old part of Oslo (Rådhusgaten 17) called 'kvadraturen' near the fortress 'Akershus Festning'. More information is available at their web page http://www.tegnerforbundet.no

New Faces 2008

2008-01-07T12:11:00.000Z

I believe I mentioned at an earlier point that I was selected to participate in the Leith Gallery's annual graduate show in February this year after my degree show in June 2007. This year's show New Faces 2008 will as usual feature new graduate students from the four Scottish art colleges. The Leith Gallery is located in the Leith Harbour area of Edinburgh (see more details at the end of the blog), and the exhibition will be open from 6pm on Friday the 15th of february to Saturday the 1st of March.

I had initially decided to exhibit my Series 4 paintings, but as my new Series 5 drawings is coming along great, I have decided to show them instead. This new series features 22x32 cm work done with pencil on quite heavy hot-pressed watercolour-paper.

MKiP29d (2007) 22x32 cm, pencil on paper, will be one of four drawings shown there. The drawings will be framed in white box frames.

The Leith Gallery
65 The Shore
Port of Leith,
Edinburgh
EH6 6RA
Tel : 0131 553 5255
Fax : 0131 553 5655
http://www.the-leith-gallery.co.uk/

Stipendiatutstilingen 2007

2007-12-03T15:40:00.000Z

As a Norwegian artist I get the opportunity to apply for certain pieces of the government art funds every year, and as an applicant this year I am going to take part in the exhibition Stipendsøkernes utstilling 2007 December 27th - 30th and January 2nd - 16th at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo.

The exhibition is arranged every year with works from all the applicants displayed close together on the gallery walls. The show is initially meant as a tool for the jury rather than a public display, but it is a brilliant chance to see a wide variety of Norwegian art.

I am going exhibit KCCaD28d (below)

Commissions and Portraiture

2007-11-17T09:31:00.000Z

As portraiture is one of my main fields of interest, I think it is quite beneficial for me that people commission me to do portraits of their families. Quite often they send me lots of photos from which I choose and edit freely, or I arrange for a photo shoot with the subject or subject matter. I obviously prefer to arrange the photo shoots myself, as it leaves me with more research material, but sometimes I find it very interesting receiving other peoples photos, as I feel that they serve as direct 'footprints' of another persons visual journey.
I have noticed that viewers react very differently to a portrait depicting someone they know and perhaps love as opposed to an image of strangers on display through my work in an exhibition. The fact that they visually know the person better, but also perhaps how they emotionally perceive the person seems to guide how they read my work. Does that make sense?
My depiction of a 'stranger' being arresting, ghostlike, intriguingly sinister or 'hinting of a hidden inner darkness', could all of a sudden be turned to - you've made him look angry, or - there's something not quite right with her eyes - if the portrait is describing a relative or loved one.

As an artist I am obviously interested in more than just making a pretty picture or nice likeness, so I find it challenging to turn the making of a portraiture an interesting journey as well as a vessel of a persons visual features.
I have obviously experienced to receive photos of people I have never met, and even if I get hundreds depicting the same person, I will never be able to add much personal interpretation of anything but the visual features. I will however, add some interpretation , and that input might be what makes a piece of handcrafted art so unique; every mark, every line, and every choice the artist makes has its own story, sometimes independent, or even unrelated of the subject matter entirely. I find that during the quite complicated - often time consuming process of painting or drawing something even as complicated as a face, my mind wanders to other things, and the marks I make can take on their own lives, but still somehow manage to add to the illusion of a unified whole.

When I started out drawing figurative portraits in a more photo-realistic style, I found it very hard to focus on anything but the performance and that is still largely the case, but there somehow seem to be parallel trains of thoughts emerging. When I am drawing the facial features of someone I know, I can't seem to completely free myself of thinking of them and the memories I have associated with that face - almost like my thoughts are kept momentarily prisoners by the image and the cue to my memories it represents. Maybe it signifies some form of meditative activity.

I think the subject of the artist's unconscious investments in his/her work is quite interesting. In one way the artist automatically traps a significant part of time, or even personal history or documentation in the makings of the work. I feel, in my own work, that the rawest, most exposed forms of this 'thought-application' emerges in the pattern-making and stylization. When I paint, I am forced to reinvent shapes and patterns at least two or three times because of sheer technical challenges. As each shape doesn't represent anything but a part of the bigger whole, I am somewhat free to explore and develop them, but as the process can be quite industrial those developments are not always conscious.

I believe the patterns in Fimbul Winter (2005) is a good example of such a journey (below - click on it for a bigger picture). It started out as a stylization of an Italian orange tree and a cityscape, but during the process it became somewhat removed from it entirely. I see strange creatures and small stories when I look at it now, while others might get different associations.

New Drawings

2007-11-05T14:42:00.000Z

I have been quite busy drawing this autumn, and most of it has been commissioned, but now I am finally getting around to doing some work more free of restrictions. I have decided to make a series of drawings called series 4 and series 5. I have started drawing on both series now. The first one is a continuation of the theme I left right before the Degree Show. Madonna of the Rocks 27d (left) is the second in the series. It is drawn from a photo session I did at ECA in April based on recreating old poses - in this case the famous painting Madonna of the Rocks.

Series 5 is based on some of the same ideas as series 3, but the drawings are slightly larger (22x32 cm). KCCaD28d and MKiP29d are the only ones in that series yet, and the latter is actually not quite yet finished. I have started using Arches hot press paper which seems to work quite well with the level of details in the new drawings. I am, however, still on the lookout for a smoother kind of surface. The stretching of the paper onto boards (like canvas) requires a quit hardy but still flexible paper. I am also still looking for the perfect pencils, as most of those I am currently using seem a little too "grainy" in texture.

I have also drawn a couple of additions to series 3 in the form of horse portraits. These will be posted on the web site shortly.

"Untitled" (2005)

2007-10-31T14:15:00.000Z

I mentioned in an earlier blog that the Mayor of Flesberg Municipality visited me at my dad's studio in Lyngdal. He came back a few days ago as he wanted to purchase the 2nd year (from my time at ECA) painting Untitled (2005) 100x125 cm, acrylic on board for the council's art collection.

It is also worth mentioning that my father, Tor Einar Evju has currently opened his studio for visitors. He is showing an impressive collection of 58 paintings from the last couple of years. The exhibition opened on Sunday, and will be shown for a week. The open studio exhibition has become something of an annual event where private collectors get a fantastic opportunity to see and purchase work where it was originaly made.

Membership

2007-10-21T18:28:00.000+01:00

As most Norwegian artists are aware of, September and October are months where a lot of applications have to be handed in. I believe I mentioned in an earlier blog how winning Juvenarte 2007 granted me a membership of UKS (young artist's society), which I wanted to apply for anyway. This membership will also automatically grant me membership of NBK (Norwegian Visual Artists). In addition to this I applied for membership in the Norwegian drawing society Tegnerforbundet, and it was granted a few weeks back.

Prince's Drawing School Offer

2007-10-21T18:03:00.000+01:00

As I have been mentioning on several occasions, I am considering applying for an MA at one of the London art colleges next year. I was, however offered another valid offer in an email from the ECA College Secretary Michael Wood last month. As far as I understood it he had been contacted by one of the Prince's Drawing School sponsors who was impressed with my draftsmanship and generously wanted to pay for a postgraduate diploma and give me a bursary on top. I still have to apply for a place, but it is certainly an attractive offer. So there is a possibility that I will apply for a place in April 2008. The Prince's Drawing School was founded by HRH the Prince of Wales in 2000 as a place where draftsmanship and drawings as a works (as opposed to mere sketches) of art were to be appreciated. I left a portfolio at the school a few weeks back, as they felt it might be a slight possibility for me to join the course this year.

FRESH 2007

2007-10-21T17:46:00.000+01:00

Just as the Billcliffe Gallery in Glasgow, The White Gallery in Dundee is showing the best of Scotland's graduates 2007. I was invited to show my work in their FRESH 2007 show 2nd - 27th of November. I have proposed to exhibit the Series 3 paintings and the Series 1 drawings from my fourth year at ECA. This will be the first time after the degree show that two full series' are exhibited in the same exhibition. I have actually never been to Dundee, and I must admit I do not know an awful lot about the place. The White Gallery itself was founded in 2005, so it is a fairly new establishment. I will try to make time for a trip up there some time in November. I doubt that I will make it to the opening unfortunately.

The Next Step - Bilcliffe Gallery, Glasgow

2007-10-21T17:23:00.000+01:00

I got a request via email from Scotland's biggest private gallery - the Billcliffe Gallery in Glasgow during my holidays in July. Thay were planning to do a graduate show with the best graduates from the Scottish art colleges 2007. I had already been contacted by the Art Exposure Gallery in glasgow from before, so I thought to myself - maybe Glasgow is the city to be for me right now - not London. But by then I had already driven all my stuff down to England anyway, so I felt there was no way back. Not yet anyway.

I said yes to the show at Billclifee obviously, and exhibited KiNY4d, MGDaG10d, MiP5d, MFHaD11d, OlFw8d and FMiLs6p - all work shown at my degree show in July. The little pencil-drawing KiNY4d got some good press. The Exhibition lasted from the 31st of August to the 25th of September, and when I talked with Roger Billcliffe at the end of the show, he said they'd had lots of visitors.

Flesberg Municipality Award

2007-10-13T19:27:00.000+01:00

As a token of appreciation for my recent success with regards to art, the Mayor of Flesberg Municipality (where I grew up), Egil Langgaard and a representative of the council and the local painting club, Gudveig Førlie decided to visit me in my dad’s studio in Lyngdal and give me an award and some flowers on behalf of the municipality council. Langgaard expressed interest in acquiring one of my paintings for the council collection, and they made me promise to get in touch for a lecture on the topic of my dissertation - creativity and individual filtering. I will try my very best to keep my promise some time next spring if possible.
I did not in fact know that Langgaard has been Mayor for a 4 year period now, as I have been away for over 10 years. So when we spoke on the phone before the meeting, I told him that the last time I saw him was in 9th grade at secondary school. He used to be a teacher back then, and he taught me how to drive a motorcycle. He told me that he still sometimes teach.

Winner of Juvenarte 2007

2007-10-13T19:14:00.000+01:00

As winner of NorskArt 2007 with Belisarius at La Viande in May, I was granted direct entry into ANSA's (Association of Norwegian Students Abroad) annual exhibition where they celebrate the best of Norwegian talent ‘coming home’. This year marked the 10th year anniversary for Juvenarte, and the show was therefore given extra media attention. 4 of my smaller drawings were chosen to participate by ANSA’s jury. The show was hosted by DogA (the Design and Architecture centre) in Oslo, 13th - 16th of September.
As I was a participant and prize-winner at the Norwegian Autumn Exhibition (Høstutstillingen) at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo at the same time, ANSA chose me as one of the high profiles in Norwegian media.
On the opening night I was awarded UKS’ (Young Artists Society) and ANSA’s Award for best works in show and Winner of Juvenarte 2007. I had no forewarning, so it was a pleasant surprise. The award consisted of a sum of money and membership in UKS free of charge for a year.

KEM's Debutante Award 2007

2007-10-13T18:31:00.000+01:00

The 8th of September marked the opening of the State of Norway's 120th Autumn Exhibition (Høstutstillingen 2007) As mentioned earlier, two of my paintings got accepted, so I went to Oslo for the private view on the 7th, and almost received a phone call almost on arrival from KEM (Kunstnernes Eget Materialutsalg). KEM is the largest art-material store in Norway. They asked me if I had planned on coming to the official opening on the 8th, because they wanted to give me the KEM's Debutante Award for my two paintings at Høstutstillingen.

The award is given to a debutante every year by a jury put together by KEM, and it consists of shares in the store, membership with discounts, and an account with money to use on art materials.

I received the award during the opening ceremony in front of HRH King Harald V of Norway, the National Advisor (Statsråd) Jonas Gahr Støre, the the French ambassador, and all the other artists. The jury's reasons were as follows:

"Kristian Evju, born 1980, is awarded KEM's Debutante Award for his works CWPS5p and FMiLs4p. The two paintings are carefully executed with a perfectionism that does not diminish or distracts from the subject matter. The portraits can be seen as references to the Victorian woman/girl portraits, but there is a complexity in the juxtaposition between rough painterly elements, photographic realism and the stencil-like shapes that creates an uncetainty in regards to interpretation."

The two paintings were purchased for the collection of the Bank of Norway (Den Norske Bank)

Høstutstillingen 2007

2007-10-13T18:14:00.000+01:00

As mentioned in an earlier blog, I was hoping to get my work accepted into the annual Norwegian autumn exhibition “Hostutstillingen 2007”. The dream came through when I got a phone call from Norway on the 17th of August. Two of my three works are going to be shown at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo 8th of September - 7th of October in Oslo, and 21st of October - 25th of November in Trondheim Museum of Art in Trondheim.

The Autumn Exhibition is perhaps the most prestigous exhibition of contemporary art in Norway. It was shown for the first time in 1882 as a protest against the established upper class art society ‘Christiania Kunstforeing’. The 2007 exhibition will be the 120th since then.

Last year there was 113 artists, and among them 28 painters. Approximately 3901 works of art were submitted to the first round and 354 to the 2nd. 113 artworks by 113 artists were exhibited in the end. 117 artworks by 74 artists were accepted in 2005.

www.billedkunst.no/hostutstillingen/utstillingen.htm

HRH Prince Charles Studio Visit

2007-10-13T17:52:00.000+01:00

HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall Camilla visited my Degree Show studio the 29th of June, and I had the pleasure of presenting my work to them. They were both very friendly, and seemed like genuinely warm-hearted people with a real interest in art.
The visit and the exhibition were arranged in honour of the Edinburgh College of Art 100 centennial celebration.

The Joint exhibition of Drawing, as shown at the 1st floor balconies around the ECA Sculpture Court 28th-30th of May, is organised around 3 shows, where the ECA show was the first. The work was shown at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August before they were transported to London for a final display.

http://www.eca.ac.uk/
http://www.princesdrawingschool.org/

The ECA Centenary Degree Show 2007

2007-10-13T16:19:00.000+01:00

I finished hanging my Degree Show Wednesday 30th of May at 4 PM. I had, like all the other graduating students, worked very hard towards getting my work as professionally hung as possible. The internal assessments finished at 1.30 PM on Monday 4th of June, whereupon we all gathered in one of the college’s studios for a short press briefing by the Head of Marketing Duncan Bremner and a last address by the Head of 4th Year Mike Docherty. The External Examination took place the next week, and the results were posted Thursday 14th of June. I was positively surprised at being awarded a 1st, as I thought my dissertation would not be as strong as I wished, but then again I guess that's every graduating student's fear. I was also later awarded the Andrew Grant Bequest.

The exhibition got fairly good reviews from the Scotsman and at the opening I was interviewed by Shaun Hadett from Culturewars. I sold a fair few of my works either at the degree show or after, and a couple of commissions and exhibitions came out of it s well.

http://www.eca.ac.uk/
http://www.kristianevju.com/

http://www.leith.co.uk/blog/2007/06/leith_at_the_eca_end_of_year_show_2007.html

Evju Art

2007-10-13T14:03:00.000+01:00

As I am writing this very first post at Evju Art, I am sitting in the Harnett home in Hertfordshire a little north of London. I moved down from Edinburgh after graduating with a BA (Hons) Painting and Drawing from Edinburgh College of Art in July. I made the decision of moving to here based on the ideal closeness to London, which is one of the hot-spots of contemporary art. The idea is that this closeness will allow me to interact more closely with this buzzing artistic activity. At the moment, however, flat-hunting and exhibitions elswhere has kept me too busy.
The Evju Art blog is not meant to replace the blog on my webpage entirely, but at the moment it is a lot more convenient to update, so news will be shared here first. I will announce any changes to that as soon as they occur. The first posts here will consist of a lot of catching up from the website blog, and I do appologise for that to those who have read those things already. I intend, however, to keep this blog a lot less formal than the other one, as it is not tied directly to the website.