TRANSFORMATION, UNVEIL and CLOSURE
2007, 2008, 2010
Throughout several exhibitions, I have worked on the theme of eroticism as a basis for creative forces.
In 2006, I signed up to a web based matchmaking service. Initially, this was not part of an art project, but a genuine desire to find a partner. After answering 70 questions, I was presented with a man who was supposed to be a perfect fit. On a scale of 1 to 100, we scored highest: matching score 100.
After a long period of virtual communication, we met in reality and started a relationship. He chose to end the relationship in the early stages, and to deal with the pain I felt, I decided to work through the break-up as an artistic process.
I made a series of paintings that depict myself and this man in erotic situations. The photographs, which are a part of the finished works, were taken after the relationship had ended, for the purpose of being used in an art work. The pictures depict therefore both erotic desire and the ending of a relationship. I continued to work with this material for several years, until long after the pain that had been the trigger had passed.
TRANSFORMATION (Galleri Henrik Gerner 2007) is about erotic desire, and the pervasive changes that such forces can bring on in a persons life. The paintings are a tribute to men as sexual objects, with a focus on women’s sexuality and their view on masculinity.
UNVEIL (Gulden Kunstverk 2008) dealt with my personal experience of a sexual relationship and its ending. Two of the paintings from this exhibition were also shown at Høstutstillingen (Annual National Exhibition of the Visual Arts) in 2007.
CLOSURE (Galleri Maria Veie 2010) was the last part in this trilogy. The main work of this exhibition was the installation “Matching score 100”.
The installation consists of a desk and chair, a PC, a waste paper basket, and a bound book with text. Photos have been stuck all over the PC. The book contains all the messages that the man and I wrote to each other before we met. The material contains no names, but is otherwise unedited.
Virtual dating is a new form of communication, a new way of meeting someone. When people communicate face to face, we create an image of the other person based on body language, facial expressions, tone of voice as well as what is actually said. Research has shown that only 10 to 20% of our communication is verbal. In net dating, all non-verbal language disappears, and you have full control over how you choose to present yourself. You can highlight certain characteristics, and altogether leave out significant parts of your existence or personality. Protected by the anonymity of the net, a relationship can develop both faster and differently from the way it would have in reality.
The work portrays my experience of net dating through verbal and visual communication, but also creates interfaces between analogue and digital realities.
Pictures from the opening of CLOSURE
Paintings from TRANSFORMATION, UNVEIL and CLOSURE
