Time for NUART 2014

Tilt (Fr) installation at NuArt 2014

I'm back after a great weekend in Stavanger and the opening of the NuArt festival 2014. The event is one of the first street art festivals of it's kind and the biggest annual street art happening in Norway. The festival gather artists, media and street art enthusiasts from all over the world. The main venue is Tou Scene, a closed brewery right outside the centre, and there is street art outside, inside and around the city. In addition there are street art tours, discussion evenings, talks, movies, workshops and more. 

The line-up this year is:

Andreco (IT), Borondo (ES), Dotdotdot (NO), Etam Cru (PL), Fra.Biancoshock (IT), Icy & Sot (IR), John Fekner (US), Levalet (FR), M-City (PL), Martin Whatson (NO), Mathieu Tremblin (FR), SPY (ES), Strøk (NO), Tilt (FR), ± Maismenos ± (PT)

This year's strongest statement by the italian artist Fra.Biancoshock

A lot of text around

Works by Martin Whatson (right) and  Levalet (left

Works by Icy & Sot

Doing media work and PR is part of the game. A magazine is doing an article about Tilt :-)

Icy & Sot doing a street art work shop

Me

The exhibition will last all september and untill 12th of october this year. There are lots of works both inside and outside, and I will post more from the festival the in coming time.

Henningsvær: The Kavi Fac Ory and Pøbel

Pøbel at Kavi Fac Ory

The small village Henningsvær on the Lofoten Islands the is becoming a modern cultural engine in Norway. Henningsvær is far north, beyond the arctic circle with beautiful surroundings, short summers with light all day and night and long winters with darkness around the clock. People here have discovered the value of art and how art can inspire and bring energy to a society that have struggled with depopulation, lack of work and educational possibilities. Today, this part of norway experience a revitalisation and a modern art renaissance. Artists have known the area for centuries because of the beautiful nature and the extraordinary light up north, but they just stayed for a season or limited time and the local comunity or visitors didn't get the pleasure of enjoying the art or benefit from the art in any way.

A brand new Gallery, the Kavi Fac Ory, have turned that notion around. The gallery offers contemporary works, works from international artists like Ai Weiwei, Gilbert & George, Shirin Neshat and more. In addition they exhibit contemporary works from norwegian artist like Kjartan Slettemark, Bjarne Melgaard and Pål Vigeland. Street artists like Pøbel and Dolk have also found their way to Kavi Fac Ory. The Kavi Fac Ory has a unique location and offer experiences of art that never previously has been available to the area and rarely are available in such "off-the-grid" regions.

The old Kaviar Factory is an international venue for contemporary art

The rooms inside are light and comfortable

The Kavi Fac Ory has a unique location

Pøbel has changed the conception of street art as an urban phenomenon. The piece "In Cod we trust" is placed by the harbour of Henningsvær

Pøbel, from Stavanger in the south west of Norway, have developed a strong relation to the Lofoten Area and the Kavi Fac Ory. The Kavi Fac Ory is a bold project and I will visit again. When visiting the gallery, the owners were friendly and had a lot of time to talk about the art works, their project and art in general. That never happens in the city :-)

The Fisherman

The iconic painting 'The Fisherman' exists in thousands of norwegian homes and is considered as a norwegian icon, a part of our identity and coastal culture. A culture which now is threatened by the oil industry.

Some research into the background of the painting reveals that this painting has nothing to do with Norway. The painter of the original work was german and the potrayed man was dutch and not a fisherman at the time.

Some people love it and hail it as the best painting ever made, other think of it as kitch and worthless. It's popularity in Norway has never the less made the painting Iconic. "The Fisherman" was painted around 1920 by Harry Haerendel. Harry was born in Hamburg in 1896 and died in 1991. He studied painting in Hamburg and Berlin and travelled all over europe. The portrayed man is Dorus Rijkers, a dutch sea rescuer, a hero of his time. Dorus was honored for saving more than 500 people at sea. When he died at the age of 81, a parade with thousands of people participated in his funeral.

In 2014, Pøbel painted a modern version of "The Fisherman" in Henningsvær, Lofoten. His jacket is replaced with a immersion suite and his rain hat is replaced with a helmet. "The Fisherman 2014" is transformed into an oil worker.

His introvert character and rugged face, smoking tobacco while gazing towards the horizon, is still present, but the oil industry is moving towards the north of Norway and will this be the end of "The Fisherman"? The end of fishing communities and a culture that has fed europe for centuries?  By his work, Pøbel is challenging the the capitalists, the oil industry and the norwegian state on an important decision for the future of northern Norway.

Mr. Hmm??

Svolvær Lofoten

'Mr. Hmm??'  kind of strange alias for a street artist and I don't know much about him unless that he is a guy who lives in the Lofoten Area (Henningsvær), are a newcomer as street artist. His works is clearly inspired by Dolk and Pøbel and he doesn't deny 'stealing' from other artists.

Bus Shelter in Kabelvåg

The Nirvana Baby in Henningsvær

Mr Hmm?? may lack originality as an artist at this point, but he's got a fantastic environment to work in.   

The photographer in Henningsvær

Another photofrapher in Henningsvær

In 2008 Dolk and Pøbel began to explore the Lofoten area and began to make their 'urban art' in rural parts of Norway on abandoned houses in the amazing nature surroundings of Lofoten. The project became famous world wide. Their work has probably inspired Mr Hmm?? to begin his street art work.

Jesus shaves at a bus shelter in Henningsvær

Henningsvær

Buddha in Henningsvær

As far as I know, Mr Hmm?? is the most northern living street artist in europe, and hope he will develop as an artist, when it comes style and originality.

There is a house....

There is a house... in the Lofoten Islands, on Gimsøy (Gims island). Gimsøy is on of the smallest islands in Lofoten, but really beautiful and Hov in the northern part is a perfect spot for watching the midnight sun.

The house has been abandoned for years. Gimsøy, as many areas along the coast of Northern Norway experiences depopulation and today only 206 people lives on the Island.

Dolk and Pøbel have painted abandoned houses in Lofoten for years and by this work, they have raised awareness about depopulation and decay in rural parts of Norway

Work by Pøbel

It's difficult to think of a better scenery than Lofoten. The nature and light is awesome. This house had a pretty anonymous life, left alone to dacay untill the street artists found their way, and today the house is a landmark in the area.

Most of the works of Dolk and Pøbel is gone now, most of them degraded by the of harsch climate of the north. It may look beautiful on a quite summer day with light around the clock, but most of the year it's dark, windy, cold and rainy.

I wonder if people will come back, restore the house and live here again. I don't know, but there are an increasing interest too save and live in these houses, at least part of the year and people from the south of Norway is buying up property in the north as vacation homes.

The work by Pøbel is one of the best preserved street art pieces and one of the few left in Lofoten.

Ron English at Nuart

Ron English self portrait: Mutant Ron in Stavanger

In 2012 Ron English visited Stavanger, Norway, for the NuArt Festival.  I guess that 50 years from now, Ron English will be reckoned as one of the most influential artists at the start of the 3rd. millennium. As an artist, Ron English leans heavily upon the popart movement from the 1960's, but are taking popart from the fine art galleries out to the masses, to the streets as street art and billboard take overs. Fans all over the world can buy his books filled with stickers. He plays with, twist, constructs and deconstructs the icons of our time. Just like Warhol did with Icons of his time, but English are more surreal and subversive as he fucks with corporate america, their brands and commercial strategies. His images are laden with strong sociopolitical undertones and humor.

Ron English at Tou-Scene in Stavanger

Spunge Bob zombie

Spunge Bob clone

Fat Tony! Where have I seen this figure before??

Fat Tony skeleton

Suicide Jerry

Cathy Cowgirl

Star Skull

The "Rabbits" series in Stavanger Centre

The three eyed, big sized and colourful Bunny Rabbits in Stavanger centre 

It's funny to see the rabbits as they watch the by-passers

The future is leaving......

Some days ago, I looked back on my photos from New York in September 2013, when 5 Pointz still excisted and just before Banksy took residence for a month in october, and I came across a photo I took of a bus shelter outside of 192 Books on 10th avenue. I didn't exactly understand why I took the photo in the first Place, except that the board looked peculiar. I thought it was an ad. I did some research and was excited to find out that the board on the shelter was  an "ad take over" by Ron English. An "ad take over" is when a street artist is using a space which is meant for commercials, and alter or replace it with works of art. An "Ad take over" is related to adbusting, brandalism and subvertising. Beloved activities for some street artists, and in 2011 street artists organised a massive ad takeover during one afternoon in Madrid. The project was international and called SAT (street advertising takeover).



The "Future is leaving" is placed by Levi's, and the " heartbrain" with the text "Nevermind Your Emotions" is placed there by Ron English. I guess that either Cemusa or Levi's appreciated this take over. I did! 

Ron English is a multicreative artist and has exhibitions i galleries all over the world and works exhibited in contemporary art museums. Ron English is also a street artist that creates illegal murals and billboards with biting political, consumerist and surrealist statements. Cemusa, a Spanish Company, is according to them selves an international leader in street furniture and I guess street furniture is different kind of installations and equipment placed outside for different purposes, e.g. bus shelters and part of their business strategy is to create space for commercials. That makes them a target for SATs and adbusters. See more of Ron English at propaganda tv.

The spring of Joy

Spring comes late here up north. Here it's still spring and spring has been beautiful in Bergen this year. May and June are festival times in Bergen, and when weather is good, people come out to enjoy. Spring is also a good time for street art here and this spring new stencil works by an artist with the alias Joy have popped up all around the city.

Hope to see more of Joy in the streets and meanwhile the days are getting longer and longer, and summer is around the corner.