Sverre Bjertnæs
Distance

Sverre Bjertnæs's first major solo exhibition in his hometown of Trondheim in over a decade explores the concept on which we have all gained a new perspective during the pandemic. In the exhibition Distance, Bjertnæs encourages the onlooker to consider our collective experience over the past year in a new way, both emotionally and intellectually.

Distance is a very central element in Bjertnæs's new paintings. The theme for the exhibition is the new distance that the pandemic has created, between our bodies, and to ourselves. Distance presents a series of new paintings, which vary in size from the intimate to the overwhelming. Additionally, an organically shaped wooden sculpture is placed as a focal point in the centre of the exhibition space.

Many of the paintings depict motifs such as people embracing each other, and lonely, resting heads. Bjertnæs’s painterly process in the new works has been immediate and intuitive, unlike his earlier works, which have largely dealt with current affairs or long-term portrait projects.

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We would like to thank:

Morten Abel, Sumaya Jirde Ali, Marcus Bøhn (the publisher Uten Tittel), Magnus Børmark, Thomas Dybdahl, Sissel Gran, Svein Roar Grande, Hanna Maria Grønneberg, Knut Ljøgodt, Finn Skårderud, Alexander Schweizer, Carl Frode Tiller, and Ellen Andrea Wang.

Kunsthall Trondheim would like to extend a special thank you to Sverre Bjertnæs.