Modern & Contemporary Art Exhibitions in Oslo

Femtensesse is thrilled to present Taking up Space, Jennie Bringaker’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. Known for her bold sculptural explorations, Bringaker’s work reflects her background in performance. Focused primarily on the female form, her sculptures delve into the intricacies of femininity, creating figures that are recognisably human yet somehow otherworldly.

For his second exhibition at OSL contemporary, Sørensen presents a continuation of the series titled A Warm Afternoon that were presented at the gallery in 2023. In these earlier works that drew inspiration from the dramatic panoramic tableau vivant’s depicting battle scenes from the 1800s, the artist developed a distinct visual language that captured his observations of people dwelling in Tjuvholmen, a new urban park located outside the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo. Unlike the dense mass of interlocking bodies clad in bathing suits that fail to be contained within the confines of the canvas, Sørensen’s new paintings mark a departure from the soft colour palette and loose washes of thinned pigment to much deeper, muted abstract compositions. Seemingly sharing the formal aesthetics of eighteenth-century Romanticism and colour-field painting from the late 1950s, these paintings retain a radical simplicity and dreamlike allure that embrace a painterly quality. Figures emerge from lurid green canvases coupled with gestural black lines or soft painterly marks that demarcate the luscious grass, tree canopies, the horizon, the sea or the sky. Some feel cartoony, while others recall the dynamic painted skies of J.M.W Turner. "These aren’t necessarily figurative" Sørensen explains, "but are compositions made up with bodies." Rather than attempting to capture the likeness or identity of the individuals depicted, Sørensen focuses on the atmosphere of a place through an investigation of form, line and brushwork resulting in unexpected configurations. In these brooding landscapes, often contained within floating and irregular rectangular shapes of colour, Sørensen zooms out from the bodies that occupy these sites of public recreation and instead attempts to capture the essence of the park. Whilst these paintings are focused on a specific park in Oslo—one that the artist passes often—there are no identifiable buildings or motifs that root them in a specific place, time or context. Marked by a depth of green (or in some instances golden yellow that are suggestive of sun-scorched lawns) and accents of blue, brown and white, there is a certain rhythm found within the series as he begins to negotiate between nature and the urban landscape that surrounds it. Peppered throughout, they are seen huddled together in groups or alone—heightened further by the sparsity of the composition s. A tension is formed and the scenes almost become voyeuristic. Nearly all of them have their backs facing us, forcing the viewer into the scene to observe their behaviour or their perspective. Others have an avoidant gaze: they look out to the distance, converse, scroll on their phone, sunbathe, recline and rest. They’re not overly fussy or stylised, no distinguishing features. In some instances, their limbs faintly appear through simple swoops of paint, almost dissolving into the park itself.

In Wonderful, Marvelous, the audience is invited into a room filled with the sound of a floating female voice and sonic feedback. One senses fragments of recognizable melodies from songs that envelop the World War II era. The music is overtly of love, desire, and sometimes serene optimism. At the same time, the songs are encrypted with politics and disillusion and a gaze towards empowerment. A generative soundscape of song and sonic feedback The ethereal song floats in slow swirls around the exhibition space. Here it morphs into resonant sonic feedback produced by discrete microphones which capture the disembodied voices. Recognizable melody is abstracted into simple chords. These slowly reveal notes that hint at the melody while keeping it just out of grasp. The ambience is alive in its waves, swells, and bitter-sweet tonal words that tease the thresholds of beauty and pain, empowered by dissonant feedback. Visitors move around within this generative soundscape, inevitably affecting the acoustic response, while caught in the seductive tensions of song and feedback. Desire, unfulfillment, and power as historical parallels to the present Camille Norment has had a longstanding fascination with the myth of the Cumaean Sibyl, which serves as a narrative backdrop for the work. Wooed by a god, the Sibyl was granted eternal life. But when denying his sexual desires, she was denied eternal youth. Thus over generations, she shriveled smaller and smaller until she was placed in a jar, where she continued to wither until nothing was left but her voice. When this woman, one of the greatest of all prophetesses, was asked what she wanted, she only wanted an end to the wish she was granted. In Wonderful, Marvelous, it is not the purpose to retell the myth. Rather, it serves as a narrative that prompts historical connections to the tensions of the present. Today’s global instabilities mirror swirling historical cycles in which power feigns desire and false fulfilment, ultimately to destruction. About the artist Camille Norment (b. 1970, Maryland, USA) exhibits and performs internationally over a span of 30 years. Her practice thinks conceptually through sound and its cognitive and somatic relationship to bodies, environments, and histories. The artwork manifests in forms including installation, composition, sculpture, drawing and performance. Norment has several permanent public artworks, and appears in many public and private collections. Solo exhibitions include Dia: Chelsea, Dia Art Foundation, New York; Bergen Kunsthall; and The Venice Biennale, amongst others. Composition commissions include the Borealis Experimental Music Festival, Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, The Munch Museum, and The Armory, New York.