Fredrik Værslev

 
Fredrik Værslev (born 1979 in Moss, Norway, lives and works in Drøbak, Norway) studied at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Frankfurt and at the Malmö Art Academy, Sweden. He is the director and founder of the Landings Project Space in Vestfossen, Norway. He exhibited in numerous museums and institutions worldwide.
One of the most original voices of contemporary painting, Norwegian artist Fredrik Værslev navigates between different painterly traditions. His practice demonstrates an insistent focus on the painting process that demonstrates the possibilities and relevance of the medium today. His works stem from the meeting between architecture and painting, and take form as painted renderings of motifs from the artist's daily life. He treats his paintings as objects, often created through more or less laborious, serial, or deterministic processes where time itself, as well as various external factors, become active co-creators in the making of the piece. In several series he left his paintings outdoors for long periods of time, allowing the weather and external wear to complete them. Other works employ apparently clichéd techniques, motifs, or art historical quotations (i.e. dripping and splattering). Værslev also challenges the process of painting by freely collaborating with fellow artists or making use of untraditional painting tools, such as spray cans or equipment used to paint roads and sports arenas. Værslev's paintings often shift between abstraction and representation, as can be seen in his breakthrough series, the “terrazzo” paintings, that imitate the visuality of Italian stone floors and at the same time call upon the expressivity and spontaneity of abstract expressionism. The “Canopy” series is reminiscent of modernism and its stripe paintings, but they stem rather from the awnings at the artist's childhood home.

(external link : www.fredrikvaerslev.com)
 
Fredrik Værslev - The Garden Paintings
2023
English edition
Lenz Press - Monographs
Fredrik Værslev: The Garden Paintings is the first publication dedicated solely to one specific body of work in the artist's practice. It includes essays by Martha Kirszenbaum and Erlend Hammer, and gives a comprehensive and chronological account of the works from the series, showing their stylistic development as well as their exhibition history.
Fredrik Værslev - Open Window
2021
bilingual edition (English / Norwegian)
Mousse - Mousse Publishing (books)
A rich selection of archival material along with critical essays and the series of paintings and spatial intervention that Fredrik Værslev especially produced for his exhibition at the Kunstnerforbundet in Oslo.
Fredrik Værslev - World Paintings
2021
English edition
Mousse - Mousse Publishing (books)
Dieter Roelstraete deciphers the series of national flags painted by Norwegian artist Fredrik Værslev.
Fredrik Værslev - Tan Lines
2020
English edition
Sternberg Press - Monographs and artists' books
This catalogue presents the artist's Sail Paintings series—32 hybrid compositions reminiscent of a boat's sail. This monumental publication (30 x 40 cm) is designed as a graphic extension to the project.
Fredrik Værslev - Fredrik Værslev as I Imagine Him
2018
English edition
JRP|Editions - Monographs
This comprehensive monograph offers an overview of the artist's oeuvre from the last decade. It brings together essays which explore Værslev's relationship to the history of painting and suburban architecture and culture, as well as his artistic process.
Fredrik Værslev - All Around Amateur
2016
English edition
Sternberg Press - Monographs and artists' books
A new artist publication coming in two different versions, revolving around Værslev's new series of “sunset” paintings.
Fredrik Værslev - Reality Bites
2016
English edition
Mousse - Mousse Publishing (books)
(last copies available!)
Reality Bites is the first monograph dedicated to the work of Fredrik Værslev, analyzed through rich visual content and texts by Matias Faldbakken, Alberto Salvadori and Caroline Soyez-Petithomme, as well as a conversation between the artist and Josh Smith.


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