My work consists of a lot of different materials and techniques, painting, drawing, collage, assemblage and lightboxes. The sizes vary from tiny to large, and I move between different stages of figuration and abstraction.
The sources from which I draw ideas and inspiration are equally wide spread. I’m always searching for images and stories that are strange and quirky, and I photograph all kinds of things I see around me. It could be a tree, a streetlight, faded graffiti or how the city sky looks at dusk. Places where there is some kind of clash between nature and manmade things are where I find a lot of my inspiration. Building sites and rubbish dumps are ugly and visually attractive at the same time.
like the contrasts and contradictions that are inherent aspects of life itself, something can be sad and at the same time funny, clear and vague, repulsive and attractive. To me, these are essential qualities to the kind of art experience I search for and hope to convey with my work
I grew up in one of the suburbs that surround Oslo, where large forested areas mark a border between city and wilderness.
At that time everything was new in the area where I lived, and there were construction sites everywhere. It seemed we were right in the middle of an almost untouched wilderness where all the mysteries of nature could be imagined. And at the same time the landscape was broken by large concrete buildings, subway tracks and highways. At night there was a lurking uneasiness of the empty open fields and dark woodlands. But you could always turn around and see the lights from the city. In the suburb the sky is never completely dark.
The street where I grew up
I went back in 2020 for the first time since 1976 and took this photo, standing in front of the house where i lived
