Magne at the opening, January 25th
(Photo by Kunstgalleriet)

Magne’s new Beatles-inspired exhibition “Norwegian Wood Remix” opened at Kunstgalleriet in Stavanger yesterday, with 250 people in attendance. There’s a selection of photos from the event on the gallery’s Facebook page.

According to Stavanger Aftenblad the opening was hugely successfull, with all the artworks – 11 oil paintings, 2 monotypes and 2 lithos – being sold during Friday’s private view and Saturday’s official opening.

Which means that Magne sold art for around one million kroner this weekend.

“We’re sold out! That’s a new record. This almost never happens. It’s exceptional”, gallery manager Elin Halvorsen told the newspaper.

“This was a great reception, and not something you take for granted as an artist. I had my very first exhibition [“Maleri”] here in Stavanger. That was at Galleri Sølvberget way back in 1989. The last time I exhibited here was in 1995, so it was about time that we made this happen“, Magne told Rogalands Avis.

Magne is still busy working on the music for the upcoming Beatles movie, some of which he’ll record at Abbey Road in London in March:

“Beatles were the greatest when I was growing up. They were the inspiration when Paul and I started writing songs. Without Beatles there wouldn’t have been an a-ha. And now I’m currently composing music around what I heard as a kid. So this is a journey back in time for me, which ends up at Abbey Road Studios in March, where I’ll record my own music using the original Beatles equipment”, he said in a radio interview with NRK Rogaland on Friday.

Beatles is set to premiere on August 29th, but test screenings of a 2-hour raw cut of the movie will be held in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger and Tromsø tomorrow.

“Norwegian Wood Remix” is open until February 16th, and the artworks can be seen on the gallery’s website.