Domestic Domains I, 2012
Domestic Domains III, 2012
Domestic Reflections 5, 2012
Domestic Reflections 8, 2012
Catch, Fall, Tonight, 2012
Veduta parziale della mostra
Photo courtesy T293, Roma
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Sono finiti i tempi romantici quando, taccuino alla mano, l'artista (sicuramente malinconico), prendeva appunti disegnando. Ora non si 'usa' più appuntare sensazioni o dettagli della propria esperienza facendo schizzi. In ogni caso, penso che il tasso di romanticismo non sia mai diminuito neanche nelle giovanissime generazioni di artisti contemporanei.
Uno di questi è sicuramente Henrik Olai Kaarstein (Oslo, 1989), artista in mostra alla T293 di Roma con la mostra 'Turning and returning'.
Alla bella età di 23 anni l'artista compie il tentativo di afferrare quella sfuggevole e apatica sensazione che si prova negli alberghi quando, annoiati, si nota quanto l'ordine viene - entropicamente - meno. Lenzuola stropicciate, asciugamani zuppi e aggrovigliate, shampoo rovesciato, macchie, sporcizia, disordine sovrano. Tutto ciò, da sempre, ha istigato l'immaginazione degli artisti - dai raffinati paesaggi di polvere di Man Ray/Duchamp ai Merz di Kurt Schwitters, ma anche Robert Rauschenberg, Mc Charty, Noble e Sue Webster ecc ecc. - quasi sempre con esiti imprevedibili e interessanti.
Kaarstein parte dalle proprie esperienze - svuotare case o alloggiare in albeghi di lusso rubando asciugamani o altro - per dar vita a rappresentazioni che oscillano tra dettagliati prelevamenti del reale a paesaggi astratti fatti per impressioni.
Dopo aver passato un'estate a collezionare tessuti, si concentra sulla raccolta di asciugamani trovati/rubati/presi in hotel, bar, saune o nella spazzatura. Adagiati, strizzati, annodati, tesi con cura o lasciati (sembra) al caso, l'artista incolla gli asciugamani sopra al fogli di plexiglass o su piani di piastrelle. Non rifiniti, slabbrati, questi collage materici stimolano ad immaginare qualcosa d'oltre. Ma anche restando a pochi centimentri dall'opera/pavimento, questa estetica dello squallore e del 'rifiuto', la pittoricità del 'basso e sporco' non è banale. E se lo è, la banalità diventa dunque fine per speculare, per farsi domande. La sensazione che mi stimolano queste opere è dunque la stessa che potrebbe darmi uno schizzo fatto a matita. Solo che alla velocità e istintività del disegno, Kaarstein preferisce lunghe prove e riflessione. Mi raccontano che l'artista fa e disfa, ribalta, stacca, prova, rovescia. A volta il fronte diventa il retro, il basso diventa l'alto: gesti che, traslati al concetto, rivelano una certa consapevolezza (o almeno sembra).
Perdersi tra le sfumature o inorridire per la capacità dell'artista di lavorare 'sul tanto poco'?
Le sculture -la parte della mostra che apprezzo meno - perdono un pò della concentrazione che invece apprezzo nelle opere a parete. Sviluppate con la dimensione di un tavolo e un letto, le due installazioni raccolgono oggetti disparati, da limoni di plastica, pezzi di tela, bicchieri capovolti, colla, pigmenti ecc.
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Henrik Olai Kaarstein and stealing hotels ... / T293, Rome
The romantic days are over, when you could go around with a notebook in hand, like an artist, taking notes, drawing. In our days these sensations and the experience of sketching is gone. In any case, I think that there is still some romanticism even among the younger generations of contemporary artists. In the latter category we find, undoubtedly, Henrik Olai Kaarstein (Oslo, 1989), whose exhibition in Rome, at T293 is entitled 'Turning and returning'. The 23 year old artist attempts to grab that elusive and apathetic feeling you usually get in hotels, getting bored and observing that there is (entropically) less order as the time passes by. Crumpled bed sheets, soaked and twisted towels, stains from shampoo, dirt, a total disorder. All the things that have always intrigued the imagination of the artists - from Man Ray & Duchamp, to Kurt Schwitters and Merz, Robert Rauschenberg, etc. etc.. – having always interesting and unpredictable results. Kaarstein is based on his personal experience – to empty homes or stay in luxurious hotels, stealing the towels and so on - in order to create a detailed representation, which ranges from the prevailing element of the real to abstract images. After spending a summer collecting fabrics, the artist focuses on collecting towels, found / stolen / taken away from hotels, bars, saunas or in the trash. Laid down on the floor, squeezed, knotted and stretched with care or (seemingly) randomly, the artist fixes the towels on sheets of plexiglass or on floor tiles. Unfinished and unrefined, these collages stimulate the imagination for something beyond. Even the way these works are placed - a few centimeters from floor, this aesthetic of debris and 'refusal', the look and feel of 'down and dirty' - is not common. And if it is, then it comes to speculate on this banality and wonder. The feeling that these works bring to me is the same of a sketch made in pencil. The difference is that instead of the speed and distinctiveness of a sketch, Kaarstein prefers the long experimentation and reflection. I was told that the artist writes and rewrites, experiments, Suddenly, front becomes back and down becomes up; gestures which, within the concept, reveal a certain awareness (or at least it seems to). Feeling lost in the details or wonder about the artist's ability to work 'with little'? The sculptures in the exhibition-the part I enjoyed least - lose a bit of their importance, but I appreciated the works mounted on the walls. Designed according to the scales of a table and a bed, the two installations collect various objects from plastic lemons, pieces of cloth, glasses upside down, glue, pigments, etc..
The romantic days are over, when you could go around with a notebook in hand, like an artist, taking notes, drawing. In our days these sensations and the experience of sketching is gone. In any case, I think that there is still some romanticism even among the younger generations of contemporary artists. In the latter category we find, undoubtedly, Henrik Olai Kaarstein (Oslo, 1989), whose exhibition in Rome, at T293 is entitled 'Turning and returning'. The 23 year old artist attempts to grab that elusive and apathetic feeling you usually get in hotels, getting bored and observing that there is (entropically) less order as the time passes by. Crumpled bed sheets, soaked and twisted towels, stains from shampoo, dirt, a total disorder. All the things that have always intrigued the imagination of the artists - from Man Ray & Duchamp, to Kurt Schwitters and Merz, Robert Rauschenberg, etc. etc.. – having always interesting and unpredictable results. Kaarstein is based on his personal experience – to empty homes or stay in luxurious hotels, stealing the towels and so on - in order to create a detailed representation, which ranges from the prevailing element of the real to abstract images. After spending a summer collecting fabrics, the artist focuses on collecting towels, found / stolen / taken away from hotels, bars, saunas or in the trash. Laid down on the floor, squeezed, knotted and stretched with care or (seemingly) randomly, the artist fixes the towels on sheets of plexiglass or on floor tiles. Unfinished and unrefined, these collages stimulate the imagination for something beyond. Even the way these works are placed - a few centimeters from floor, this aesthetic of debris and 'refusal', the look and feel of 'down and dirty' - is not common. And if it is, then it comes to speculate on this banality and wonder. The feeling that these works bring to me is the same of a sketch made in pencil. The difference is that instead of the speed and distinctiveness of a sketch, Kaarstein prefers the long experimentation and reflection. I was told that the artist writes and rewrites, experiments, Suddenly, front becomes back and down becomes up; gestures which, within the concept, reveal a certain awareness (or at least it seems to). Feeling lost in the details or wonder about the artist's ability to work 'with little'? The sculptures in the exhibition-the part I enjoyed least - lose a bit of their importance, but I appreciated the works mounted on the walls. Designed according to the scales of a table and a bed, the two installations collect various objects from plastic lemons, pieces of cloth, glasses upside down, glue, pigments, etc..
