BGE Contemporary Art is proud to announce our third exhibition with Sverre Bjertnæs, titled ”Skogen trekker seg tilbake” (The Forrest Retreats). The presentation consists of 26 paintings and 4 sculptures executed between 2018-2020. The title ”Skogen trekker seg tilbake” (The Forrest Retreats) refers to a wooden sculpture that acts as the foundation for the remaining art, which is predominantly paintings. The wooden sculpture is part of a collaboration with the Norwegian playwright Arne Lygre, and will move on to become scenography at the performance Bjertnæs / Lygre which premieres at Trønderlag theatre in November.
True to Bjertnæs oeuvre, his paintings in ”Skogen trekker seg tilbake” are equipped with their own codes and instruments, an exciting artistic style that both stays true to figurative abstraction, classical figuration, geometric shapes, as well as experimentation with conceptualism. The paintings are oriented around a cultural-historical experiment, which questions how we relate to previous styles in art history.
His artworks in ”Skogen trekker seg tilbake” can be seen to reveal their individual creative process with its unique visual language, simultaneously as they are connected pieces of a narration that becomes the presentation at large. Bjertnæs creates charged spaces for reflections, both private and communal. Although the artworks avoid a defined political subject, they open up for issues that are characterised by the time we are in. The show title refers to the possibilities for change and change of perspective, which we constantly surround ourselves with, both as individuals and as parts of a community.