“Spiraling Out (Expansion)”, 2008-12Acrylics, oil, oil bars, and oil pastels on wood panel, 242 x 250 cm
Gallery price NOK 90000 / Opening bid NOK 30000
(Approximately € 9000 / € 3000)
These two sister pieces (Contraction and Expansion) were originally conceived as temporary wall drawings created on site for ‘Book of Swells’, my solo show at Teckningsmuseet in Sweden on view throughout the summer of 2008. At the close of the exhibition, the Laholm Municipality put the works on display in a local theater for several years.
When this theater went out of business, the museum administration shipped the works to Oslo (a bit awkward, since I live in New York). While I had not originally intended for these images to be permanent works, I figured it would be too bad if they came all the way from Sweden for nothing, so I spent a summer month in 2012 when visiting Oslo to add elements in more durable materials in hopes of finding them a home in Norway.
For the next few years, the twin pieces were on public display at Soria Moria Kulturhus at Torshov, Oslo. In 2019, the piece, ‘Triskelion (Contraction)’ was purchased by Sør-Aurdal Kommune for permanent installation in the municipality’s new stadium and cultural center: Sør-Aurdalshallen in Bagn, Valdres. I would love to see this remaining piece, ‘Spiraling Out’, end up in a similar setting: a public arena dedicated to the arts and bodies in motion, my very favorite things in life (for more info, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Kjok). – Sol Kjøk
