Open Space in Bryne Art Society 2018
A thorough and complete exhibition
Four artists explore the boundaries between abstract and specific space. And they do it well.
Anne Therese Tveita, Stavanger Aftenblad 3.4.2018
Bryne Kunstforening: Open Space. Hennie Ann Isdahl, painting and sculpture. Mona K. Lalim, painting. Christine Istad, photography. Lisa Pacini, sculpture. Four separate and distinctive art practices constitute the Open Space artist collective. At Bryne Kunstforening, their group show appears to have emerged from one single thought.
A clear common denominator
Together, the four artists Hennie Ann Isdahl, Lisa Pacini, Mona K. Lalim and Christine Istad, have created an exhibition with a clear common denominator: they are relating to the architectural space that comprises Bryne's old mill in a reciprocal intervention. Through material and sculptural qualities, color, air and light, as well as an almost intuitive conceptual approach, the artists are exploring and testing the boundaries between constructed and abstract space. Representing four different art practices based in painting, photo, installation and sculpture, the collective’s explorations are playful and effortless. Each exhibited work touches upon elements in the next, in this comprehensive and complete group show.
Hennie Ann Isdahl's minimalist sculpture, "Open Gate", literally provides a frame for the show; a large geometric aluminum frame standing firmly on its welded iron feet. In glowing orange and white, the abstract structure reflects the concrete exhibition space. The sculpture’s shape and color, and the space it creates, challenges the boundaries of two-dimensionality and three-dimensionality, appearing as a fusion between a painting's surface/frame and architecture.
Vulnerable, random
In the far end of the exhibition space is "Gates", another work by Isdahl, appearing as a close relative to the previous sculpture. The work consists of three similarly large square aluminum frames, painted in a monochrome blue. The frames support each other in an apparently random and vulnerable structure that threatens to fall apart at any moment.
Isdahl has deconstructed the exhibition space to the extent that empty space makes up its largest component.
Deconstruction
Deconstruction appears as a recurring theme in the show. Such as in Lisa Pacini's sculpture «Soft Labyrinth». In her work, Pacini will often deconstruct classical architecture and recreate ancient, architectural shapes in sculptural works. "Soft Labyrinth" is evoking the shape of Casa del Labirinto known from the ruins of Pompeii. Here, soft vinyl is cut according to strict principles, the outcome of this process appearing as two works, one negative and one positive shape. In her oil paintings, Mona Lalim is demonstrating her own approach to the exhibition space. The abstract composite painting "Balcone" is the product of an exciting work process. In a reverse archaeological reconstruction, Lalim is exploring classical oil painting through the qualities of the oil paint itself. Working backwards through the layers, her work is unearthing memories of architectural structures and formal elements, fragments of what used to be. In this way, even time gets to play a role.
Beautiful photos
Christine Istad's beautiful abstract photographs of everyday objects and events are rooting the theme of the exhibition. In Istad’s practice, time, light and colors surrounding us are captured and concretized, as exemplified in the works Sliding doors #7 and Sliding doors #3.
All exhibited works are relating to each as well as the exhibition space surrounding them. The structures and lines are reflecting elements of the room, in addition to the aura of the art works and their essences. Thus there are a number of exciting dialogues in the show, dialogues that the viewer, too, partakes in through her mere presence.
Art critic by Anne Therese Tveit, Stavanger Aftenblad