Eva Livijn is pleased to present ’Bland dessa uråldriga spiror’, ’Among these primordial spires’ a solo exhibition by the Swedish artist Olle Norås.
Drawing inspiration from sacred places, rural landscapes and nature, and its position in a post-industrial world, Norås makes visible existential processes of change to quest our relationship to the environment as well as to evoke our self-reflection on the pace of theses process. Through abstract gouache paintings with exquisite details and a mesmerizing rich palette, the artist examines the parallels between inner and outer landscapes.
'Bland dessa uråldriga spiror' presents two new series of gouache paintings by Norås, Bland dessa uråldriga spiror (Among these primordial spires) (2020) freestanding sculptural spires, and En samling utvalda böner (A collection of selected prayers) (2020) assemblages. The artist's abstract imagery spans between micro and macro, the past and the future, echoing close-ups on mosses, forest spores and metamorphoses, as well as maps and ore mines once active in Dalarna, where he grew up. However, Norås work is not about representation; rather, it is about opening up our imagination and about revoking a slower pace and a more grounded meditative state of being.
We are waking up to the fact that we have destroyed more than half of the forests that once existed on earth, simultaneously witnessing migration crisis, climate change and COVID-19 leading to an increased need for existential belonging. Art may both challenge us and bring forth mental and existential strength to connect us with something larger and sublime. Intriguing, mythical and hallucinatory images help us to endure life, and to see, the artist says.
At Livijn's home, a place for the private and inner, the visitor encounters an intimate exhibition, where Norås' works, in an immersive way, captures nature's ever-ongoing processes of change and encourages us to turn the gaze towards ourselves.
Olle Norås (b.1982, Gagnef, Sweden) has a BFA in iron work from HDK Steneby, Academy of Design and Crafts, the University of Gothenburg in 2011, and has studied at the Royal Institute of Art between 2013-2015. In 2017, he received the Maria Bonnier Dahlin Stipend, in Stockholm. Selected exhibitions include the solo show Alla tysta varelser at Galleri Se Konst, Falun, 2017; the duo exhibition En god kniv och några enkla ord, with Olof Marsja, at Åttiofjärde konsthallen, Stockholm, 2017; and the group show, The trees, light green: Landscape painting – past and present at Bonniers konsthall, 2020, Stockholm.