Torbjørn Rødland

Since the 1990s, Torbjørn Rødland’s (b. 1970) photographic practice has earned him international acclaim. Rødland works with staged photos, usually in series. In 2000 he also took up video. While a student at the National College of Art and Design in Bergen (1992-95), he became aware of The Pictures Generation, including artists such as Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Louise Lawler, Barbara Kruger and Sherrie Levine. These were artists who, in the 1980s, worked with conceptual and staged photographs. The concept of appropriation is essential for understanding their production, for they recycled materials, not only from the artworld but also from popular culture. It was Levine’s Untitled (After Edward Weston) (1979), a re-photographing of Weston’s Torso of Neil (1926), that especially impacted Rødland’s development. Although we can trace the legacy of these appropriationists in Rødland’s pictures, we also sense a will to reconnect with the world more directly, and to reconnect with the tradition of Romantic art. Rødland strategically uses Romantic feeling, religious longing and sentimentality to thwart rationality and the postmodern idea of authentic experience no longer being possible.

Fenriz no.1 (2001)* shows a figure clothed in black, standing by a forest lake. Bright sunshine reflects off the water. This 'tranquil' picture evokes a mood. The motif seems to hearken back to the Romantic tradition in Norwegian landscape painting; perhaps especially to late 19th century Neoromantic works. There is, for example, a faint echo of the Fleskum Painters’ non-objective depictions of Dælivannet (a lake) where reflections in water help create a mood. Rødland’s photo has a simple composition and the use of tree trunks to divide the pictorial plane recalls how Edvard Munch used tree trunks in The Voice/Summer Night (1893), in Red and White (1894) and in Moonlight (1895). But Rødland does not directly appropriate his visual references; instead, he takes their ethos – the 'idea' of the typical Neoromantic mood painting – and explores how it is used in popular cultural media, for example, in advertisements and in fashion photography. Rødland scrutinizes our visual heritage and asks whether there is anything of value left in this material most people consider 'used up' by popular culture.

Fenriz no.1 is from Black (2001), a photo series depicting Black Metal musicians in landscapes. Gylve 'Fenriz' Nagell is best known as the songwriter and drummer for Dark Throne. Formed in the late ‘80s, this Norwegian band enjoys cult status for its pioneering work in Black Metal. Many viewers might find it odd that this picture does not reflect the Black Metal preoccupation with dark, sinister forces of nature. But Rødland teasingly plays with our expectations and questions the conventions and stereotypes we associate with this music. He takes us to a clearing in the woods and challenges our assumptions. Our reaction will depend on our knowledge of the subject. For anyone who knows a bit about Fenriz, the bright, wholesome context is entirely appropriate; this musician has made a concerted effort to demolish stereotypical ideas about Black Metal. Fenriz and Rødland therefore seem to have a joint project: to uncover clichés and discover what lies beneath – something more original, genuine and spiritual.

LS

* The work is no longer a part of the exhibition.