The airfield now is the richest, most biodynamic, in the whole country.
The bat wings had the perfect proportions, both straight and curvy—that perfect brake. Rooted in an abstraction that borrows, reflects, and refuses the smoothening of the lazy mind-hand connection. The bat, the wings, had been in the cave so long, so dead that only the see(a)-through membrane was left, like the skeleton of a leaf or seaweed. It was visible only during the flowering of the uv-lighted fungi yearly blooming. Then and only then, like the avatar landscape, but uglier of course. Someone had also drawn a big fat line over that sheer trace of a bat, with a big black filter pen. A permanent marker asshole move.
OSL contemporary is proud to present its first exhibition by Ragna Bley. Known for her paintings, varying from monumental installations to smaller, more intimate canvasses as well as sculpture and performance, the exhibition at OSL contemporary will be the first introduction to a new series of work. Over a two-year period the artist has worked on, revisited and reworked the surfaces of the paintings, resulting in a body of work titled Pluto.
Ragna Bley (b. 1986, Uppsala) lives and works in Oslo. She received her BFA at The Oslo Academy of Fine Arts in 2011 and her MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London in 2015. Recent solo exhibitions include Zooid at Kunsthuset Kabuso, Øystese (2018) and Kunsthall Oslo – Munchmuseet on the Move, Oslo; Superbody Sweet, Editorial, Vilnius; Lay Open at Frankfurt am Main, Berlin (all 2017); and Pine Pitch at Hester, New York (2016).
Selected group exhibitions include Punkt Ø, F15, Moss; Rupert, Vilnius (both 2018); The 9th Norwegian Sculpture biennial (2017) UKS, Oslo (2016); XVI International Vilnius Painting Triennial, Museum of Applied Arts, Vilnius (2016); Bosse & Baum, London (2015); Royal College of Art, London (2015); 1857, Oslo (2015); Taiga Art Space, St. Petersburg (2014); Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2014).
Upcoming highlights include Modernautställingen at Moderna Museet, Stockholm and Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, both autumn 2018.
At CHART ART FAIR 2018 OSL contemporary will present works from Bley’s series Zooid. Following the presentation at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, the paintings will travel on to be exhibited as part of Modernautställingen.
