FREDRIK VÆRSLEV
The Norwegian artist Fredrik Værslev (*1979, lives in Drammen/No) has impressed the art public with his extensive painterly practice that is both precisely planned as well as on the lookout for coincidence. He exposes his works to the weather, for example, hangs canvases on a tree for months or integrates the painting styles of colleagues, offering them wooden panels to paint on. His paintings exemplify conceptual strategies that question painting processes but also preserve the beauty of the works. Vaersley is showing new pieces of art at Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen: the artist cuts up previously worked canvases and meticulously sews them together again, experimenting with forms, colour combinations and picture media as well as exhibition possibilities. The result is a surprisingly painterly installation between abstraction and the haptic reality of materials in which canvases take on the dynamics of a sailing regatta.