OLAV CHRISTOPHER JENSSEN
Olav Christopher Jenssen
(b. 1954 Sortland, Norway) is one of the foremost artists of his generation from the Nordic countries and has gained international recognition for his distinctive and multi-facetted paintings, as well as for his idiosyncratic sculptures. His production encompass drawing, watercolour painting, graphic works, book illustration and books. Simultaneously working with multiple series and mediums, Jenssen alternates between the different works mentally and physically; from informal and rapidly painted pictures to more strict and formal paintings, in monumental as well as intimate formats. Always exploring and adopting new methods and techniques, his works contain both continuity and diversity. Between these works, a rich visual vocabulary has emerged; 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 a journey through the history of abstract painting.
Jenssen lives and works in Berlin and in Lya, Sweden, and has since 2007 held a professorship at Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig in Germany. He is represented in important public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, New York, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Centre Pompidou, Paris and The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo. He has had major exhibitions at Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, and Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany. Recent exhibitions include «Journal - works on paper 1979-2012» Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden, Norway, «Recent works» Saarlandmuseum, Saarbrücken, Germany, «Estragon» Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany. In 2019 he will complete two large outdoor sculptures for Elvebredden Kunstpark in Lillestrøm, Norway.
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Oslo, Norway Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway Rogaland Kunstmuseum, Stavanger, Norway Northern Norway Art Museum, Tromsø, Norway Karin & Jules Schyls Donation, Malmö Konsthall, Sweden Malmö Museum, Sweden Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden Esbjerg Museum of Art, Denmark Horsens Art Museum, Denmark The Henna and Pertti Niemistö Art Foundation, Ars Fennica, Tavastehus Kunstmuseum, Finland Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland Berliner Bank Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany Deutsche Bank AG, Frankfurt, Germany Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Germany Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Germany Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany Staatliche Museen Kassel – Neue Galerie, Germany Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, France Fonds National d´Art Contemporain, Puteaux, France Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA City Bank Art Collection, New York, USA British Museum, London, England Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes, Paris, France Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris, France FRAC Auvergne, France
LACKMUS
CONRADS, 2006
LACKMUS
CONRADS, 2006
LACKMUS
CONRADS, 2006
