Sverre Bjertnæs – HjemPut together by Fredrik Værslev

Home. Annika, Trine, and Oda see their lives turned upside down when the local country music star reveals that he is father to all three.

Hjem (Home) is a broad presentation of the work of Sverre Bjertnæs, comprising around 40 paintings and sculptures, old and new, of varying sizes and quality, all put together by Fredrik Værslev in the spring of 2024.

The exhibitions in the Main Building have, across the years, varied between curated thematic exhibitions, exhibitions drawn from collections, and geographically oriented exhibitions. This year, for the first time, our main exhibition was dedicated to the work of a single artist – all four floors of the Main Building was filled with the art of Sverre Bjertnæs. Bjertnæs is one of Norway’s foremost painters and sculptors. It was with huge pleasure we welcomed you to Hjem (Home).

The exhibition was put together by Fredrik Værslev. Værslev is himself an artist, with his studio at Arena Vestfossen. This was the first time Bjertnæs and Værslev worked together.

In conjunction with the exhibition an extensive catalogue, edited by Fredrik Værslev, was published by Jungle Books, an art books specialist based in St. Gallen. The catalogue is richly illustrated and include a substantial essay by Erlend Hammer. It can be purchased in VKLs Bookstore.

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Sverre Bjertnæs (b. 1976) received his art education at the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo (1995–1999) and the Dutch Art Institute in the Netherlands (2002–2004). He was awarded the Blix Stipend in 1999, the Anders Jahre Prize for Young Artists in 2005, and a stipend from the Håkon Bleken Foundation in 2008. In 2019, he was awarded Art Council Norway’s 10-Year Stipend for Established Artists.

He gained significant international acclaim for the exhibition ‘After Shelly Duvall ´72 (Frogs on the High Line)’, curated by Bjarne Melgaard at Gallery Maccarone in New York, selected by New York Times in 2011 as one of the ten best exhibitions of the year. He has had solo exhibitions at many galleries, including White Columns in New York and Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum, as well as acclaimed collaborations with Bjarne Melgaard and Håkon Bleken. In 2021, he wrote the book Mine bilder – om kunst og alkoholisme, essays (My Pictures – About Art and Alcoholism, Essays).

Fredrik Værslev (b. 1979) received his art education from the Art Academy Malmö (2005–2010) and Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste – Städelschule in Frankfurt (2008–2009). He has had solo exhibitions at FRAC Bretagne in Rennes, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Le Consortium in Dijon, Bonner Kunstverein in Bonn, Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Kunsthal Aarhus, The Power Station in Dallas, and Museo Marino Marini in Florence. In 2016, he was Festival Artist in Bergen, and presented his show ‘All Around Amateur’ in Bergen Kunsthall. He is represented in several major collections, including those of Centre Pompidou in Paris, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the National Museum in Oslo. Since 2018, Værslev has been Professor of Painting at Art Academy Malmö.

Participating artists

• Sverre Bjertnæs
• Fredrik Værslev