elusive moose » Art, culture and literature

Untitled, by Ana Luisa Rébora

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:06:20 +0000

From Mexico to Norway – Ana Luisa Rébora

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:02:05 +0000

Another local artist whose work I love. I was actually very tempted to buy one of her paintings at the exhibition she had at Soli Brug, Sarpsborg, a couple of years ago – it was a rather big painting of a group of people by what looked like a huge waterfall, in shades of blue, browns and white – reminded me of Gullfoss in Island, very atmospheric, and just beautiful! Only the price tag (around 10,000Kr if I remember correctly) stopped me Anyway… When I say local artist I mean an artist based here, by the way, because Ana Luisa comes from Mexico originally, but Norway has been her home for the past 10 years – she now lives in Eidsberg, Indre-Østfold, although she still spends the winter in Mexico whenever she can. Her husband grows and sells organic Christmas trees, while she paints in her studio. Check out her work at www.analuisarebora.com or even better, visit her exhibition at Gallery Stallen in Gamlebyen, Fredrikstad, which is on until 30 July.

Norway’s premiere on 23 July in Fredrikstad

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:23:35 +0000

Famous locals: Harald Zwart

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:18:31 +0000

Harald Zwart is a Norwegian film director, born in Holland in 1965, who grew up in Fredrikstad, Østfold. He started directing short films, music videos (including a couple for A-Ha) and commercials, before moving on to feature-length movies. He has since achieved a degree of success in Hollywood, where he is now based, with films such as One Night at McCool’s (starring Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon, John Goodman and Michael Douglas) and The Pink Panther 2, with big names such as Steve Martin, Jean Reno and Andy García.

In Norway he is more famous for directing Lange Flate Ballær, a film about football fans in his hometown of Fredrikstad, which was a big hit at the box office, and its sequel, Lange Flate Ballær 2, about a group of Norwegian misfits who undergo a week of National Guard training. Zwart’s latest film, The Karate Kid, a remake of the 1984 movie of the same name, tells the story of a young boy from Detroit who moves to China with his mum and starts learning kung fun after getting a thrashing by the local bullies. The movie, which stars Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith (the son of actor Will Smith), has been very well received in the US, and will premiere in Norway at Fredrikstad Cinema on 23 July.

Did you know? Harald Zwart always adds props that represent Fredrikstad and its football club, FFK, in his movies. And he also owns a cafe, Zwart Cafe, in Gamlebyen.

Art and history in the Old Town

admin — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 13:53:22 +0000

Focus on Gamlebyen: Bastion 5

admin — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 13:48:16 +0000

Bastion 5 in Gamlebyen is a complex run by local artists and craftsmen, consisting of a cafe, exhibition galleries and workshops. The building furthest from the river was originally a bakery, while Cafe Magenta is where Gamlebyen’s slaves were kept when they were not working in the fields outside the city. The Provianthus or storehouse, the largest of the three buildings, is also Gamlebyen’s oldest. The wall facing the river is an impressive 4m-thick in places. The building was completed in 1691, and today houses the main exhibition space. Here you will find pottery, sculpture, jewellery, paintings, and other arts and crafts for sale. A great place to browse, and maybe find an unusual souvenir to take home.

Bastion 5 is open Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat-Sun noon-4pm. Toldbodgaten, Gamlebyen. Tel: 98 63 91 49, www.bastion5.com

Zooicide, by Dolk

admin — Sat, 29 May 2010 17:27:11 +0000

Dolk: Norwegian street art’s superstar

admin — Sat, 29 May 2010 17:21:54 +0000

Dolk (‘Dagger’ in Norwegian), aka Dolk Lundgren, is Norway’s most famours stencil artist. Originally from Bergen, he started to paint (or should that be ’spray’? ‘tag’? ‘graffiti’? anyway, you know what I mean…’) in 2003. His Banksy-style stencils, which are often applied with a good dose of humour, tell a whole story in one image, and their simplicity is no doubt one of the key factors in their success, as they are immediately and universally understandable. His most popular works include, among many others, Che, Burger King, and Zooicide (see above). Dolk has for several years been involved in the Nuart Festival in Stavanger, a street art festival organised every year in Rogaland, southwest Norway. Other projects have included a series of large scale works in the Lofoten Islands, where Dolk has been painting on derelict houses in several remote locations, and a commission for Halden Prison, Europe’s most modern prison, in Østfold, which now boasts several full-length stencils by him, including ‘Prisoner’ and ‘Police Line’.

You can see some of Dolk’s works at www.dolk.co.uk

More about the Nuart Festival at http://c6.org/nuart/

My kind of humour

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:46:57 +0000

Nemi, by Lise Myhre

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:46:26 +0000

Some of you will have come across Nemi before, the goth girl with a predilection for black clothes and dark humour, whose tough attitude hides a softer side. But did you know that she was Norwegian? The brainchild of Lise Myhre (born 1975), one of only a handful female cartoon creators to have made an impact internationally, Nemi began to appear as a guest cartoon in the Norwegian daily Dagbladet in 1999, before getting her regular slot on the newspaper’s pages a year later.

Cynical and romantic at the same time, Nemi finds it difficult to relate to boys. She hates blonde bimbos, but loves spiders, heavy metal, beer and chocolate. She is not averse to a practical joke either. While the cartoon is read by both sexes, it is no secret that Myhre has helped attract a new female readership to the genre. Nemi has a monthly magazine with a circulation of 70,000 in Norway. It is the second most popular cartoons in the country – only Pondus has more readers. Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Germany also have their own Nemi magazines and books, and Nemi also appears in dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites in Scandinavia and the UK. These include Metro in the UK, Dagens Nyheter in Sweden and Dagbladet in Norway.