NRK

Written by Ragnhild Laukholm Sandvik

Published on Sept 12. 2021

https://www.nrk.no/kultur/xl/jorunn-hancke-ogstad-er-ei-stigande-stjerne-i-kunstverda-1.15638745

Translated by ChatGPT

///

Rising Star

Jorunn Hancke Øgstad's paintings leave spectators in awe, but she doesn't want you to interpret her past into them.

Jorunn Hancke Øgstad is hailed as one of the most interesting contemporary artists we have in the country.

She dislikes the idea that an artist always has to share a negative story from their past to gain attention in the media.

At the same time, it is impossible to tell her story without addressing a terrible incident that affected her in the 1990s. Back then, the media became a torment.

A classic dilemma, indeed.

What happened changed her perspective on the world forever. How does it influence her art?

Much of her work revolves around confronting the incomprehensible. In her paintings, some parts are planned meticulously, while other parts seem to be determined by the materials themselves. One cannot always foresee what will happen, in art or life.

Among the foremost in her generation.

In a decade-long Norwegian wave of abstract painting, Jorunn Hancke Øgstad is central, according to Chief Curator Caroline Ugelstad at the Henie Onstad Art Center in Høvikodden, Bærum. Two paintings are included in the Art Center´s prestigious collection.

"She dares to take on the large format, she experiments and renews the expression. She is in the top tier of her generation," says Ugelstad.

The magazine Kapital recently referred to Hancke Øgstad as one of the smartest artist investments right now. The value of her paintings has risen significantly in recent years and is expected to continue.

I meet Jorunn Hancke Øgstad where she creates her paintings, in an abandoned office block near the highway in Groruddalen, Oslo.

A sort of calm chaos prevails. Neatly organized brushes, numerous cups with mixed colors, canvases leaning against all partition walls.

For Jorunn, the path to becoming a painter was crooked.

First, she attended music and drama school, later film school in Denmark. There she learned that one could actually attend an art academy. She took the first year of Bachelor degree in Reykjavik, Iceland, before the rest of her education took place in Oslo.

She describes the atmosphere at the academy (where she completed her master's degree in 2009) as macho.

"The discussion there was quite one-sided and dominated by a few. A situation that has fortunately been challenged in various ways in recent years," she says.

Painting was also not trendy in art circles in the early 2000s; "it was seen as something distant and outdated." She felt resistance for a long time. But eventually, she wanted to move away from screens and digital expressions, to work more physically, using her hands.

She spent the first year of her education in Iceland. She moved there alone, she started drawing.

"It was a tough and useful year. I became more honest with myself and what I wanted to use art for."

But it was when she moved to Berlin in 2008 that she became fascinated by contemporary painting.

"The years in Berlin were a formative journey into contemporary art and the history of painting. I got to know artists from all over the world. The perspective I had from the academy and Oslo expanded."

The joy in not understanding something

The genre is, therefore, abstract contemporary art.

A part of the cultural field with a good dose of prejudices directed towards it ("why is this art, a child could have made that" and so on).

As a cultural journalist, I prefer to understand and convey where things come from, what they might mean, why they are the way they are. At the same time: I know the feeling of looking at an abstract painting... and not knowing what to think, feel, say.

A half-finished work is in my line of sight as we talk; I see a jellyfish. It looks like it's going to devour the other figures on the canvas. Can I say that? I´ll say it.

The artist understands, she smiles a little.

"That's what we humans always do when we look at something; we want to put what we see into a system. But: the first few minutes, if the brain fubles to place the impressions somewhere, a lot of exciting things happen," she explains enthusiastically.

"It's interesting that it's so difficult for us humans to face something we don't understand. That's sort of my point. The potential in the incomprehensible, the wordless. But by all means! Jellyfish are beautiful, too."

(One can be inspired here. Next time you're in front of art: Breathe calmly, take in the impressions as they come, don't try to think something smart. Seeing is also a form of work, Jorunn explains.)

( Art critic says: )

Jorunn Hancke Øgstad is a pioneer in contemporary art.

Art critic and writer Arve Rød outlines some lines about how Hancke Øgstad enters art history:

Abstract painting has been a male-dominated genre. From the physically expressive works of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko in the 1950s to the neo-expressionists in the 1980s. Assertive, often associated with masculine values.

"In an art-historical perspective, it is therefore interesting that in Norway it is women like Jorunn who have propelled the development of this genre," says Rød.

There is a timeless quality in her works, according to Rød. He reviewed the exhibition "Crocodile Tears" in 2018 for Dagbladet.

The exhibition is considered her breakthrough. The National Museum bought three paintings.

People stood in front of the paintings in awe

Far away from the jellyfish, we find the art collectors. Those with money.

In 2019, Jorunn had 10 paintings at the prestigious "Frieze London" fair.

Gallerist Esperanza Rosales often noticed a physical reaction in those who passed by and looked at the works.

"The paintings are so expressive; people stop. They gape. Then the conversation begins," she says.

Everything in London was sold to foreign collectors. The works now reside, among other places, in South Africa, Russia, and Los Angeles. An Italian woman later came specifically to Groruddalen to choose a painting. She had seen the exhibition in London, gone home, and saved up.

She just had to haveJorunn Hancke Øgstad's imprint on her walls.

"Why did you actually become an artist?"

"I have always had that drive, been creative, was playing music, and wanted to express myself. But the need for another language became greater after my mom died. The experience of being outside of everything around me... I was so angry at everything and everyone. Violence was an unknown phenomenon to me as a child, suddenly it came very close," she says.

Suddenly, she had to question everything she knew as normal.

A murder case on all front pages.

Jorunn's mother was killed in September 1994.

Details about the case could be read all over the newspapers that fall, front page. The case was titled “the Hancke murder” or “the teacher murder” ( her mother was a teacher at a high school).

When the trial came up the following year, there were again big headlines. The mother's ex-boyfriend was convicted of the crime.

All the newspaper coverage after the murder made everything extra difficult. One can understand why Jorunn Hancke Øgstad has a certain skepticism towards the media.

"I get sweaty about the trend 'speaking out about the tough times' type of journalism," she says.

The problem with talking about her past has always been the sensationalism.

"That story is not a sensation or true crime for me; it's just a part of my life."

Even though she doesn't want to "come forward with her story," keeping it hidden also seems problematic.

Strength in being an outsider.

Absurd is the word Jorunn uses when talking about the time after the murder.

"Everything was just... strange. I packed my gym clothes, went to the store. But everything ordinary suddenly became meaningless," she says.

The feeling of being different, standing outside and somehow looking in at the normal, she carried with her for many years.

"Later in life, fortunately, the perception of 'normal' expanded. In encountering art and the art world, I found that having a skewed view of the world can be a strength.

People in the art world are often precisely those who have ended up outside at some point, in one way or another. That's almost reason enough in itself for art to be important in society, she believes.

"When I was younger, there were always two worlds. There was me out there in ordinary life, and then there was everything else inside me," she says.

Her parents were divorced. After her mother was killed, she moved to her father.

She also had an older sister, friends, extracurricular activities; she functioned fine, in a way. The grades were good. She chose music school after secondary school. At that time, the piano was a refuge.

Now it's the studio.

Another language

It smells like chlorine.

"I'm incredibly privileged to work like this," says the painter.

She spreads more water over a cotton canvas that hasn't quite gotten the right color; more paint is needed here. While the paint layers on top of the canvas, layer by layer, textile dyes behave differently. They color the canvas itself (just like when you dye fabric at home, if you've tried). They are not easy to control.

Other things she uses in her artworks are masking tape and a liquid plastic called epoxy. Jorunn likes to talk about technique but is reluctant to discuss the themes behind the paintings.

"Isn't there something of your past in these paintings?"

J:"The question must be how? It might be delightfully simple to hang the meaning of the abstract on such hooks, but what I paint is not personal in that sense," she says.

Art is a discipline; it is more than therapy.

"I am in the process with my whole self, but creating is not about working through a past. The reading of the paintings becomes too narrow if you make them personal."

Exactly how the emotions and experiences inside the artist are connected to the hand that squirts color onto the canvas or to the shapes and colors that make people stop...well, that remains one of the great mysteries of art and life.

Jorunn Hancke Øgstad has an interesting perspective:

"Maybe for once, we should try to ignore finding words?"

Productive days

Life today is far from the terrible event. She wants to show us other things.

That one can have a good life despite the grief. That one can visit the darkest place and, at the same time, play with colors.

"Anger can be productive. As cheesy as it sounds, I feel that the experiences I have worked through have strengthened my life."

After telling about losing her mother in the terrible way she did, Jorunn Hancke Øgstad is the type of person who quickly reminds that she is not the one to be pitied in the world today.

"Fortunately, I had a good foundation. I grew up with a great mother. I have a core, from her."

She has become a mother herself. She has long canvases to bleach, more brushstrokes to add, she is busy:

On October 2, a new exhibition opens at the Krutthuset in Maridalen, just outside Oslo city center. There she will stand, probably quite exhausted, with a glass in her hand, a little shy, a bit filled with joy.

And if you ever face art, or anything else, that is incomprehensible?

Remember what she said. It's possible to ignore finding words.