Gaylen Gerber, Edvard Munch Studio, Ekely, Oslo, 2019
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ABOUT THE PROJECTS
What happens when something is painted a neutral color like grey or white? Gaylen Gerber’s oeuvre is very much about value. In brief, his long-term project entitled Support, which will be ongoing during the biennial, involves identifying objects and painting them.
The surface of an old object is imbued with history, tradition and memories. Painting it grey or white instantly obscures these qualities and the existing surface’s distinctive identification only to ensure that its history, including its form re-emerge more clearly. These found objects are not only elevated to the status of art; overpainting them means that we see them in a different way from before. During osloBIENNALEN, Gerber will show a selection of Support in Edvard Munch’s studio at Ekely and in the Myntgata neighbourhood in Oslo city centre.
EDVARD MUNCH’S WINTER STUDIO, EKELY
The property Ekely, near Skøyen in Oslo, was bought by the painter Edvard Munch in 1916. Several of the buildings on the site had functioned previously as a plant nursery/market. Munch lived and worked at Ekely from 1916 until his death in 1944. Munch constructed the studio building comprised of a northern and a southern studio, supplemented by two open-air studios. Munch himself lived in a now demolished Swiss-style villa next to the studios which dated from the 1870s, and was surrounded by an orchard. He painted several of his most important works here and his time at Ekely is considered a particularly productive period of his life.