Press release -
Exhibitions 2019
We start 2019 with the first of three main exhibitions, Sun and Spring in January – The Next Generation in Norwegian Contemporary Art, an exhibition featuring six young Norwegian contemporary artists, and which has formed the basis for an interesting dialogue between artists, writers and art collectors. This year's summer exhibition will be of new acquisitions in the Astrup Fearnley Collection and in the autumn we will show the fantastic Gilbert & George – The Great Exhibition. In the collection we will highlight three key artists, Frank Benson, Olav Christopher Jenssen and an amazing exhibition with Anselm Kiefer, emphasizing the literary aspects in his oeuvre.
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Sun and Spring in January – Next Generation in Norwegian Contemporary Art
25.01. – 05.05.2019
With this exhibition, Astrup Fearnley Museet will focus on a new generation of Norwegian contemporary artists who represents a great diversity of conceptual premises and visual expressions.
The exhibition project has also formed an interesting dialogue between artists, writers and collectors. The project will present a new generation of Norwegian artists and writers, and for the first time also direct the attention to the art collector as a constructive part of the Norwegian contemporary art world.
Artists: Miriam Hansen, Johanne Hestvold, Anders Holen, Henrik Olai Kaarstein, Mercedes Mühleisen, Constance Tenvik
Writers: Ina Hagen, Ingrid Halland, Simen Joachim Helsvig, Maria Horvei, Nora Joung, Nicholas Norton
Collectors: Clarkson Platou by Peter M. Anker, Knut and Cecile Brundtland, Bettina Ford Jebsen, C. Ludens Ringnes Stiftelse by Christian Ringnes, AKO kunststiftelse by Nicolai Tangen, Talent Norge
Curators: Gunnar B. Kvaran and Therese Möllenhoff
The exhibition is produced in collaboration with Talent Norge
Frank Benson - Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection
01.02. – 24.04.2019
Frank Benson (b. 1976) is one of the most fascinating sculptors of his generation of American contemporary artists.
Astrup Fearnley Museet has followed his spectacular development and through the years included a large number of his work in the Astrup Fearnley Collection. The exhibition will for the first time show all of these works together and give a good insight to his artistic production.
Curator: Gunnar B. Kvaran
Olav Christopher Jenssen – Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection
03.05. – 15.09.2019
Since the early 1980s, Olav Christopher Jenssen has been developing an abstract expressionist style in which he has systematically explored formal possibilities and colour expression.
Jenssen is a key artist in the Astrup Fearnley Collection. The Collection includes a large number of his works from a variety of periods, giving a comprehensive picture of his artistic journey through the years.
Curator: Gunnar B. Kvaran
Anselm Kiefer – Books and Xylographs
30.05. – 15.09.2019
Anselm Kiefer originally intended to be a poet, but as we know, he became a visual artist instead. Still, his works bear witness to the significant role words and literature have always played in his life. This is evident in, among others, the three works of his that are on permanent exhibition at Astrup Fearnley Museet: Barren Landscape, Ladder to the Sky and, not least, The High Priestess/Zweistromland.
The exhibition Anselm Kiefer – Books and Xylographs focuses on the connection between Kiefer’s art and literature in general, a dialogue that is present in a number of works from various periods in the form of paintings, sculptures, woodcuts and artist’s books.
The exhibition has been organised and produced by Astrup Fearnley Museet in collaboration with the Fondation Jan Michalski in Switzerland.
Curators: Natalia Granero and Gunnar B. Kvaran
The exhibition will be shown at the Fondation Jan Michalski 7 February–7 April 2019.
New Works in The Astrup Fearnley Collection
30.05. – 15.09.2019
Astrup Fearnley Museet has purchased a large and varied selection of Norwegian and international artworks since 2012, when the museum moved to its current home at Tjuvholmen.
This exhibition focuses on these recent purchases, and we are pleased to be able to display new works of both young artists and established, internationally renowned ones.
Curator: Gunnar B. Kvaran
Gilbert & George – The Great Exhibition (1971-2016)
13.09.2019 – 12.01.2020
At a time of reflection on Gilbert & George’s one-of-a-kind half century of creating Art together, we present The Great Exhibition.
The exhibition is curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Daniel Birnbaum that seeks to capture and revel in Gilbert & George’s unique universe. Featuring a selection of historical pictures deemed by the artists themselves as the most representative of their art and life together.
The exhibition is produced by Luma and Moderna Museet.
Topics
Astrup Fearnley Museet is a private museum of contemporary art and has since its opening in 1993 been one of the most important art institutions in Oslo. The museum moved to Tjuvholmen in 2012, beautifully located by the Oslo Fjord in a building designed by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano. The museum shows changing exhibitions by leading international and Norwegian contemporary art and houses the Astrup Fearnley Collection. The collection is one of Norway’s most important and extensive private art collections, with iconic works by artists like Damien Hirst, Anselm Kiefer and Jeff Koons.
