Archive for the ‘Art projects’ Category

Exhibition opening at Vinstra

Posted by Jakob S on August 3rd, 2012

Magne and Håvard Vikhagen at Vinstra on Wednesday, August 1st 
(Picture from Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen)

Magne and Håvard Vikhagen’s joint exhibition, held as part of the annual Peer Gynt culture festival, opened at Vinstra yesterday.

“Magne is a bit like Peer Gynt. They have both had many spectacular experiences and been through a lot”, Vikhagen tells newspaper Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen.

Magne agrees that there are similarities between himself and Ibsen’s iconic character:

“There are several parallels. When I’m juggling many balls in the air, I have a tendency to add even more balls. Both Peer and myself have a lot of life experience. We are also both easily fascinated, while at the same time maintaining a critical attitude. And we want to experience something all the time. But we’re always longing for a place to belong”, he says.

The exhibition at Vinstra includes a selection of works from “Futura Plus”.

“I create art from a musical point of view, where emotions play a large part. I’m not afraid to get involved and be present. Hopefully I’m able to make my art sing. Either way, it’s exciting to be exhibiting together with Håvard”, Magne says.

The Furuholmen/Vikhagen exhibition at Vinstra is entitled “For jeg er født til kunstner, ser du” (a quote by Ibsen) and is open until August 11th.

Related links:
Sunnmørsposten   Budstikka.no   Photos at galleripikene.com

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Magne decorates Røkke’s luxury yacht

Posted by Jakob S on August 1st, 2012

Aglaia 
(Picture from lars-g.dk)

Over the years, Magne has created artworks for several cruise ships. Now his art can also be seen on a different kind of ship; he has recently decorated the enormous sail of luxury yacht Aglaia, boatinternational.com reports:

“(…) Suitably for a boat named after the Greek goddess of beauty and splendour, Aglaia is also a gorgeous-looking yacht. Chief among her charms is the painting by Norwegian artist Magne Furuholmen on her Code 1 sail, which at about 3,600m2 (both sides of the 1,787m2 Cuben Fiber sail) is one of the largest fabric paintings in the world.

The owners had a series of Furuholmen pieces on board and after the christening chose to make his art a more integral part of Aglaia’s DNA – by putting his work on her sail. Furuholmen was given no specific brief and he told the owner he would make no sketches (‘you’re going to have to trust me’).

‘When I got asked to do this particular commission, I decided to take a modern approach to portrait paintings of 100 years ago,’ Furuholmen says from the deck of Aglaia. ‘It’s my interpretation of a history. I try to find an angle that both has a connection to the context in which the work is going to be placed and a connection to that person whom I’m portraying.’ (…)”

Aglaia is owned by Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke. The controversial business man is supposed to have paid around $100 million for the luxury yacht, which was launched in March 2011. Aglaia also includes art by Magne’s good friend and fellow artist Nico Widerberg.

More pictures of Aglaia, with Magne making a visit onboard, can be seen at photographer Lars Gundersen’s website at lars-g.dk.

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Stiklestad opening

Posted by Jakob S on July 30th, 2012

Magne with three of his "Borderless" prints 
(Picture from Adresseavisen)

Magne’s exhibition at the Leidang gallery at Stiklestad opened last Monday, July 23rd.

Held as part of the Olsokdagene culture festival, the exhibition included a series of new prints based on the word “Borderless” (the theme of this year’s festival is “Across borders”) and a selection of works from “Camera” (2009).

“I always hope that people get inspired and happy when seeing my art. But you never know. Personally I feel that it’s become a nice exhibition and I’m looking forward to seeing the audience reactions”, Magne told NRK.

The exhibition was opened by Knut Olav Åmås, the culture editor at newspaper Aftenposten.

“It’s rare to see an artist who creates so many different things on such a high level. There are some who get provoked by such a multi-talented man, which is understandable when you struggle to achieve even the simplest things yourself”, Åmås said in his speech.

Related links:
Trønder-Avisa   Verdalingen.no   NRK.no

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Interview about Stiklestad exhibition

Posted by Jakob S on July 9th, 2012

The newspaper Trønder-Avisa had a 2-page interview with Magne on Saturday, in connection with the upcoming Olsokdagene festival at Stiklestad. As mentioned back in April, Magne is this year’s artist at the annual festival, which opens on July 23rd.

Stiklestad is an historical place in mid-Norway, which represents the introduction of Christianity in Norway, after a major battle in 1030. Magne’s exhibition will include a unique graphic print inspired by the events at Stiklestad.

He is also preparing a series of prints based on the word “Borderless”.

“I like to explore the letters that make up a word, use the letters as architectonic elements, turning words into images. It becomes a new mental landscape, within a given format. It is limited by borders, but still provides a multitude of opportunities.”

In the interview, Magne talks about his fascination with Ulysses and Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, which have been among the inspirations behind his use of fragmented words and sentences that are put together to form new meanings.

“Reading Finnegans Wake is like a swim exercise. You can dive down anywhere and come up with something”, Magne says.

“Joyce was one of the first to express that life is fragmented, instead of linear and continuous. But you will seldom find a place like Stiklestad, which so clearly tells a linear, continuous and influential story as the introduction of Christianity. So how do you go about exploring the subject?”

“The history at Stiklestad is based on one specific perspective, written down in a linear axis of time. But it can also be written more anecdotally. There are conflicting stories in there. Besides, all stories can be written differently, from another philosophic viewpoint, and it’s that other story I’m trying to find, by breaking up the linear narrative, creating contrasts and fractures.”

He finds it interesting that the most beautiful, contemplative, religious room in the world was made by an atheist: the Matisse Chapel in Vence.

“Picasso was angry because Matisse took on the task. Matisse answered that this is what we’re doing, building cathedrals”, Magne says.

The exhibition will be held at Leidangsgalleriet at Stiklestad, and opens on July 23rd.

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Magne presents Sir Peter Blake exhibition

Posted by Jakob S on June 7th, 2012

The renowned British artist Sir Peter Blake is in Norway this week, to hold an exhibition of his works at Magne’s gallery Stolper + Friends in Oslo. The exhibition is called The Oslo Suite and is inspired by Norway and famous Norwegians.

Blake has also covered the nearby Shed 13 warehouse with his art, like Damien Hirst did last year.

Yesterday he met the press together with Magne to talk about these projects.

“I think it’s amazing that we have been fortunate enough to have Peter make a whole exhibition based on Norwegian characters, on Norwegian historical figures. And inspired by Norway. I think we should count ourselves very lucky to have Peter here and to have this exhibition happen”, Magne told NRK1′s evening news last night. There’s a video clip here (starts at 12:30).

Peter Blake and Magne in front of the a-ha print (Picture from Dagsavisen)

In addition to prints depicting Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen, Sonja Henie and Edvard Munch, Blake has also included a print based on a live photo of a-ha from the 80s, taken by Janne Møller-Hansen.

“When I was asked to hold an exhibition here, I wanted to base it on pictures of famous Norwegian people. And since I’m a good friend of Magne, I wanted to include a-ha as well”, Blake tells Dagsavisen.

Magne was perhaps slightly less amused.

“For me it’s difficult to hang a picture of myself on the wall, but this is a choice that he’s made. Based on which Norwegians he’s familiar with. My entire budget for this year’s Christmas presents has now been spent on buying two prints for Morten and Paul”, Magne jokes.

The Oslo Suite opens at Stolper + Friends tonight and will be on display until July 1st.

Related articles:
thornews.com   a-ha.com   aftenposten.no

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Time capsule workshop

Posted by Jakob S on May 31st, 2012

Workshop at Magne

As mentioned on April 11th, Magne is going collaborate with young students to create a special time capsule to be kept in the Norwegian National Archives.

On Tuesday this week, 17 students from selected schools across Norway, along with their teachers, took part in a workshop held at Magne’s own atelier in Asker.

“This is probably the first and last time I’m having visitors at my atelier. It feels a bit private”, Magne told the visiting guests before they entered, newspaper Budstikka reports.

The time capsule will be formed as a sculpture, and made up of a number of metal boxes. These boxes will contain letters where students have written down their thoughts on the July 22nd tragedy and the society we live in.

“I’m picturing an obelisk with words on it, maybe a sentence. You can write whatever you want – the more variation, the better”, he told his young collaborators.

At the workshop he showed the students how to punch words into soft metal, which is how the sculpture will be decorated on the outside. This technique is something they are later going to show their fellow students.

“You don’t often get the chance to engage people from all over the country like this. I’m a sort of facilitator here, not the creator. This is sensitive material, so I was a bit nervous. I agreed to do it because this isn’t mainly about the tragedy, but about the future. The focus here is that the students will send letters to the future, and that’s an interesting idea”, Magne says.

The time capsule, which is made in connection with the upcoming documentary film Til Ungdommen, will be opened in 2031 and is described as a gift to the youth of the future. More than 50.000 Norwegian students have signed up to take part in the time capsule project so far.

There is more info and a gallery from the workshop on the project’s own website at tilungdommen.com/tidskapselen.

Related articles:
Budstikka   Tidens Krav   Romerikes Blad   Jærbladet   austagderfk.no

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Exhibition opening

Posted by Jakob S on May 22nd, 2012

Magne at the opening, in conversation with museum director Tone Sinding Steinsvik 
(Picture from Drammens Tidende)

Around 600 people were present at Blaafarveværket on Saturday the 19th, as the museum opened its doors for the season. One of the main attractions this year is Magne’s partly retrospective exhibition in a timber barn at the Nyfossum area of the museum.

“It’s always exciting to hold an exhibition, especially with these works that haven’t been on display for a long time”, Magne told newspaper Drammens Tidende as he arrived.

Drammens Tidende also has a picture gallery from the opening, where the guests included former prime ministers Kåre Willoch and Kjell Magne Bondevik.

Last week, dagbladet.no had another interview with Magne in connection with the exhibition (includes a video clip).

The exhibition is open until September 23rd.

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Magne prepares exhibition at Blaafarveværket

Posted by Jakob S on May 10th, 2012

Installing the art at Blaafarveværket yesterday 
(Picture from Drammens Tidende)

Magne visited the Blaafarveværket museum yesterday, to prepare his big – partly retrospective – summer exhibition (see Dec. 15th story) which opens next Saturday, May 19th.

Today there are interviews with him in VG, Bygdeposten and Drammens Tidende. There is also an 8-minute video interview at tvmodum.no, where you can see many examples of what will be on display – woodcuts, graphic prints, ceramic jars and more.

Picture from Bygdeposten

“The exhibition features a lot of art from the 1990s, including series of works that have never been exhibited in Norway or Europe before. It’s been really fun to bring this out of hiding, and combine it with some of my newest works”, Magne told Bygdeposten.

The exhibition is held in an old, wooden barn, which makes for a special experience.

“It’s both exciting and challenging to work in such buildings and surroundings. When it works, which I feel it does here, it creates a great connection between the room and the artwork. And the woodcuts fit naturally together with the timber walls”, Magne says.

There is more information (in English) about the museum and exhibition at blaa.no.

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Magne attends hotel opening

Posted by Jakob S on May 3rd, 2012

Yesterday, Magne attended the opening of the new Clarion Hotel & Congress in Trondheim, which is situated next to the Rockheim museum. There’s a small picture of him at VG.no.

The hotel has spent a lot of money on its art collection, and Magne is one of the artists represented on the walls.

Tomorrow he’ll be back in Oslo for the second live show of The Voice.

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Exhibition at Stiklestad

Posted by Jakob S on April 29th, 2012

In addition to being this year’s artist at the annual Peer Gynt culture festival at Vinstra (see March 29th story), Magne has now also been chosen to be this year’s artist at the annual Olsokdagene festival at the historical site of Stiklestad, opening on July 23rd.

As adressa.no reports, Magne’s exhibition at the festival will include a unique graphic print inspired by Stiklestad, only available in 20 copies.

Magne will be present at the opening on July 23rd. The exhibition is open until sometime in August.

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