Kristin Nordhøy – Placed

September 1 – 22, 2018
Opening: August 31, 2018 | 7pm

 

"Placed", Kristin Nordhøy’s first exhibition not only at the Loock Galerie, but also in Germany, will feature several new paintings from her series Transparent (2010-present) and Interference (2016-present), drawings, and a site-specific wall painting. The starting point for these diverse works is an intricate structure created through the layering and intersecting of lines. Nordhøy begins her paintings by affixing strips of masking tape to monochrome canvases and wall surfaces and her drawings by tracing invisible lines on sheets of paper. Depending on the medium, she then either paints between the lines, removes the tape, and incorporates curved and non-parallel lines of different colours or renders the indiscernible visible by overlaying her lines with pastel and charcoal. The results are multiple.

 

In Nordhøy’s drawings, which call to mind the work of Surrealist artist Max Ernst, minimalist artist Agnes Martin, and Op artist Bridget Riley through their technical and formal aspects as well as visual effects, the lines create a spatiality, giving this traditionally two-dimensional medium an unexpected sense of depth. Placed perpendicular and at varying angles to one another, these lines also, as do those in her canvas and site-specific wall paintings, form chessboard and moiré patterns. At times resembling tangential grain on a section of exposed wood or ripples moving along on the surface of water, these motifs create an optical illusion that forces the human eye to see multiple layers or to move continuously in search of a single point of reference; the former frequently occurs while viewing her grid drawings and Transparent paintings, while the latter takes place when examining her drawings with curved lines and Interference paintings.  

 

Exhibited throughout the gallery, including its showroom, Nordhøy’s paintings and drawings will complement a site-specific wall painting. Made through a series of actions, including securing tape to the front wall to form a dense grid, painting over the entire structure, and then removing the tape to at once expose the monochrome paint layer beneath and simultaneously the artist’s process, the work will immediately confront the viewer upon entering the gallery. Moreover, it will transform the overall space and shift in its appearance as one navigates through the Loock Galerie.

 

 

Kristin Nordhøy was born in Oslo in 1977. She received her MA in Visual Arts at the Oslo National Academy in 2006 and has since showed her work in exhibitions throughout Europe. She has been the recipient of prestigious grants from the Art Council Norway and the Norwegian Visual Artists Association and her work can be found in the collections of the Norwegian Bank, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Pro Artibus Foundation, and the Norwegian collector Erling Neby.