The last solo exhibition I did this year was at Orkdal Kunstforening in Orkanger. It's a small city near Trondheim in the middle of Norway. I had done a few new works in the Real Thing series featuring fresh flowers and other organic materials on top. I challenged the gallery to either tend to them during the exhibition and replace them if necessary or let them wither and dry. The gallery room was not very big and I exhibited only eight works.
The trip up to Orkanger went fine, though there was a bit of bad weather and icy roads on the way. Grethe Gutschmidt from the gallery greeted me and was very helpful and positive during the installation, and I got treated to lunch at a local cafe.
I stayed in Trondheim during the installation and over the opening. I had time to see some art, and my old school, Kunstakademiet in Trondheim, had an "Open Day", so I got to visit the sixth floor where I used to have my studio for the last two years. It was a pleasant and nostalgic experience.
The opening was very nice with a decent turnout. Ole Tolstad from the gallery held a neat introduction; I got pretty roses (that I probably use for upcoming artwork) and made a small speech. My old colleague from the academy, Henrik Hallaren, showed up. He travelled quite a long way by bus from Hitra, where he lives, which I really appreciated.
Ole Tolstad performed a very interesting beat poem he had translated from English with music. Here is a video.
There was a piece in the local paper about the exhibition which always is helpful.
It was a very long exhibition period, lasting until the end of January. The gallery even arranged a great "finissage" with music, canapés, and a small interview with me. I treated myself to a nice hotel in Trondheim for a few days and saw some more interesting art there. The journey home went smoothly.
It turned out the gallery had replaced the flowers on the paintings a couple of times but left them to dry during the last period. I think they looked beautiful and sombre when I saw them. This process also strengthened the concept in my view.
Here is the documentation. It's hard to take photos with spotlights, but after many adjustments in Photoshop, they turned out okay.
Order the poster below.