Opening reception Thursday May 10 5-8 pm

Galleri Riis has the pleasure of presenting our 11th exhibition with Olav Christopher Jenssen (born 1954), the first in the Stockholm gallery. Olav Christopher Jenssen is considered one of the foremost artists from the Nordic region and has gained international recognition for his distinctive and multi-facetted paintings, as well as for his idiosyncratic sculptures. In addition, his production encompass drawings, graphic works and books. Simultaneously working with multiple series and mediums, Jenssen alternates between the different works mentally and physically; from informal and fast painted pictures to more strict and formal paintings, in monumental as well as small formats. Always exploring and adopting new methods and techniques, his works contain both continuity and diversity. The play of the fragile, impulsive and immediate opposed to the more restrained and controlled, architectonically composed paintings, create a never ending artistic exploration and a vital approach to his own visual vocabulary. The paintings open up a philosophical space for dialogue and reflection, encouraging the viewer to unveil strata of paint and decipher cryptic symbols, as on an archaeological journey through the hundred year history of abstract painting.

“Panorama / Second Generation” consists of new large scale paintings. As the title indicates, a previous generation of paintings with the same title exits (from 2008-09), the current exhibition being an example of Jenssen’s returning to, and continuing of earlier series, a common feature in his art practise. The Panorama series is characterized by its striking compositions and constellations, ranging between a static contemplative calm and a thrilling journey in a warped world where unexpected spaces and horizons appear. Jenssen makes infinite paintings, offering the viewer an equally expressive and stylized landscape. The fields in the Panorama paintings, with their own inner logic, mirrors both an abstract world and an ability to see beyond the canvas. In parallel to “Panorama / Second Generation”, and in collaboration with Galleri Riis, Jenssen’s exhibitions “The Letharia Paintings” are presented in Galleri Charlotte Lund and “Infinitiv” at restaurant Sturehof in Stockholm. During the period May 19 – September 16 his exhibition “The Protagonist”, featuring works from 2008-2010, will be shown in Varbergs Konsthall, Sweden. This exhibition was previously presented in Västerås Konstmuseum in the fall of 2010 after touring in the Nordic countries. In the fall of 2012 Jenssen will show new works at the Marta Herford Museum in Germany, and in 2014 an exhibition is planned for the Fundação Serralves, Porto, Portugal.

Olav Christopher Jenssen lives and works in Berlin and in Lya, Sweden. After many years as a professor in Hamburg, he has since 2007 held a professorship in Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig in Germany. He is represented in several important collections, including Museum of Modern Art, New York, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Centre Pompidou, Paris and The National Museum of Art, Architchture and Design in Oslo. He has had major museum exhibitions at Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Kiasma Museum of Contemprary Art, Helsinki and Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany, where his works takes up a whole room in the museums permanent collection.

Please contact the gallery for photos, additional information or an interview with the artist.

Photo credit: Selma Jenssen