Achtereen | 2014 x-house kristiansand norway
achtereen 2014 x-house kristiansand norway
achtereen 2014 fragment x-house kristiansand norway
achtereen 2014 fragment x-house kristiansand norway
exhibition view x-house kristiansand norway
exhibition view x-house kristiansand norway
Achtereen
Temporary Threads
Rolina Nell from Delft in the Netherlands is a painter, but moves between different forms of artistic expression. In the exhibition Temporary Threads, she presents a site-specific mural. It’s based on some of the x-house’s history, and she let herself be inspired by the traces that show that the room was once used as a gym.
Rolina’s work is often based on observations of everyday life, and her work is often about women. Women she observes, but also the imaginary image of women, or the woman who gestalts herself in an idea of atmosphere or environment. The women represent both independence and control, but are also shaped by expectations linked to culture and social settings. She often works with motifs in real life sizes, but in this exhibition, she has challenged herself and severely enhanced the image.
The title, Achtereen, is Dutch and means repetition or infinite movement, but can also be divided into two separate words that can be translated to one and from behind. There is fantastic movement in this motif. It takes command of the room in an exceptionally positive way, and it’s as if the movement triggers the thoughts and brings fantasy to life. If one closes one’s eyes, one can almost imagine the room full of people in workout outfits; jumping, stretching, running, and lifting.
Rolina also has a series of smaller paintings in the exhibition, and also these feature different women, almost all from behind. There’s something very sensual about these paintings. The almost transparent layers of paint give me an atmosphere of something that almost disappears, something that fades away. Or perhaps just as much something that is almost invisible, yet still insists on its existence. One gets a desire to turn the women around and look at them face to face.
Borghild Rudjord Unneland, visual artist, opening speech Temporary Threads Kristiansand Norway CreAir (November 2014).
The mural is an acrylic / mixed media painting of 285 x 1080 cm.