Ida Ekblad
26 April–15 September 2013
Opening: Thursday 25 April, 18h
National Museum of Norway
Museum of Contemporary Art
Bankplassen 4
Oslo, Norway
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday,
Friday 11–17h; Thursday 11–19h;
Saturday–Sunday 12–17h
The works of Ida Ekblad oscillate between an unrestrained imagination and her familiarity with, and allusions to, an art-historical tradition. Her paintings of the past five years, in particular, are courageous demonstrations of the relevance and feasibility of an expressive artistic gesture. But Ekblad does not necessarily repeat expression as an authentic and essentialist format.
Ekblad works in a variety of media—painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and poetry—simultaneously and without hierarchical distinction. Among her sources of inspiration are movements in art history such as Situationism and Abstract Expressionism as well as the artists’ group CoBrA and forms of expression in contemporary pop and subculture, including in the non-visual domains of literature and music. After a phase during which her work evinced a conceptual orientation, she now devotes renewed attention to the painterly and poetic sides of her art.
For this exhibition, Ekblad has used the Museum as her studio, producing more than 30 works in situ. These new works improvise a performative architecture out of industrial debris, found objects, shopping carts and paintings.
The exhibition is curated by Andrea Kroksnes and part of the museum’s ongoing series of museum presentations bringing attention to emerging and mid-career Norwegian artists, previously featuring Matias Faldbakken, Camilla Løw, Snorre Ytterstad and Marte Aas.
Ida Ekblad (b. 1980, Oslo; lives and works in Oslo) is educated at the Art Academy in Oslo (2007) and at the Mountain School of Arts, Los Angeles (2008). Still an emerging artist, Ekblad has already received international recognition participating in museum shows around the world. She was also presented at the main exhibition at the Venice Biennial in 2011.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the National Museum in Oslo, Kunstmuseum Luzern and De Vleeshal, Middelburg. It is accompanied by a 160-page catalogue published by Distanz Verlag, Berlin, with poems by Ida Ekblad and contributions by Fanni Fetzer, Andrea Kroksnes, Quinn Latimer, and Barry Schwabsky.
Concurrent programme:
Thursday, 25 April, 18h
Opening: featuring a performance by Nils Bech, Ole Henrik Moe and Kari Rønnekleiv
Wednesday, 12 June, 17h
Book launch and artist talk with Ida Ekblad, Fanni Fetzer, Andrea Kroksnes and Barry Schwabsky (TBC).
Thursday 19 September–Friday 20 September
An Appetite for Painting – An International Conference on Contemporary Painting
With Olav Christopher Jensen, Mari Slaatelid, Marlene Dumas, Peter Doig, Chris Ofili, Jittish Kallatt and Robert Storr (TBC).
For images and further information please see www.nasjonalmuseet.no or contact Marthe Tveitan at marthe.tveitan@nasjonalmuseet.no.
