REVIEWED: Lars Elling: Samtidig - like i nærheten (Simultaneously and Close)
By Renata Domitran
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Lars Elling, Falangist (Phalangist), 2011. Courtesy of Galleri Brandstrup |
Painting with a mixed technique of
egg tempera and oil, Norwegian artist Lars Elling (1966) uses an unusual
combination of contemporary expression with the old masters methods of
painting. It is a unique blend that gives an underlying sense of capturing
something forgotten. Elling is exhibiting a solo show at Galleri Brandstrup Oslo -
which also exhibited his work at The Armory Show in New York earlier this
month.
Lars Elling is a painter who
challenges viewer perceptions and their ability to comprehend his coded
visual messages. A coldness of pastel colours manifests numerous subtle shadows
throughout the paintings. The unavoidable elements of this exhibition
are gloomy atmospheres and unsettled surroundings featuring faceless
characters engaging in what appears to be their own surreal mind
projections. The very recognisable narrative of Elling's visual language is
people either without faces or faces hidden away and blurred. Appearing to merge into their own
internal worlds, these haunting
figures define the disturbing nature of the works. It all gives an eerie feeling of the unknown, yet at the same
time, the viewer knows something unsettling is present. Elling hides the
identities of his subjects behind smudged paintings' surfaces, holding layers
of narratives inside his apparent unfinished stories; like novels without
endings.
One piece depicts a boy in a red
jacket, Falangist (Phalangist) (2011), holding a gun in
his hand and pointing at something or somebody the viewer is not in a position
to see. The boy has a white undefined face framed by bright orange
hair. Is it a spine-tingling image, a nightmare or maybe just an innocent
boyish game? Visible in the background are dark smudged colours, dripping down
the canvas like the imaginary blood of an unseen victim. The background could
be perceived as a storm inside the boy's mind or viewer reactions inside
their own heads. It seems that Elling is unwilling to reveal the whole message
or the full scenario of this imagined play. He leaves room for the audience to
fill in the gaps. All we know for sure is the painting's name, Phalangist.
This name can mean a member of a paramilitary organisation, perhaps
alluding to a boy soldier and society's responsibility, possibly provoking
guilt in the mind of the viewer.
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Lars Elling, Knust Landskap (Destroyed Landscape), 2010. Courtesy of Galleri Brandstrup |
In another of Elling's exhibited
paintings titled Knust Landskap (Destroyed Landscape) (2010), it
seems as if three stories are simultaneously projected onto the canvas. In an
almost theatrical setting, a woman's figure lies on the ground with another
female sitting on top of her, and a male figure leaning over the lying woman.
It is an undefined act that could either depict friendliness or silent violence
over the female lying down. Once again, the blurred faces makes it difficult to
comprehend the content behind the scene. In the background people casually play
golf as smoke appears beneath the mountains - dark clouds above also
implying an underlying tension.
Lars Elling's narratives are without
a time frame or definition, and rely on individual perceptions. Just like in
the theatre where actors play others adding traces of their own
selves, Elling's paintings are open to quiet interpretations and assorted
endings. Experiencing his work is
like entering a series of strange, sudden and cut short scenes. The theatrical
features of Elling's paintings give a very strong omnipresence of ambiguity,
leading the viewers into their own psychological mind trap. Scenes evolve and
penetrate into each other, reminding us of the transience of time and the
unforeseeable future. Elling has captured moments of haziness in the precarious
world of the labyrinth of the mind, and with it leaves space for the audience
to imagine their own layers of narrative.
· Lars Elling: Samtidig - like i nærheten (Simultaneously and Close) Galleri Brandstrup Oslo, Oslo, Norway 28 Feb – 23 Mar 2013