On September 28, EXCAVO will open Notes From Underground, an exhibition of new works by Iceland-born, Norway-based Artist Georg Óskar, curated by Moira McKee.
With a raw approach and a murky palette, Óskar depicts isolated subjects engaged in surreal, dream-like scenarios where a palpable tension exists between wildness and civilization, recalling the primitivism of Rousseau and Gauguin.
Óskar offers observations on an existential human experience in a state of crisis with wryness and dark humour, developing narratives that taint quiet, introspective moments with undercurrents of paranoia or placing recognizable, fictional characters into mundane, often ironic scenarios that culminate in crooked representations.
Following completion of his MFA from the Bergen Academy of Art & Design in Norway, Óskar has exhibited Internationally in Spain, Germany, China, Switzerland, Norway, England and Iceland.
This will be Óskar’s first solo exhibition in North America.
About the Artist
Georg Óskar (b.1985, Iceland) currently works and lives in Oslo, Norway. He graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts from Akureyri School of visual arts in 2009 and subsequently obtained his MFA from the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design in Bergen, Norway in 2016. Since then, Oskar has exhibited internationally in various countries including Spain, Germany, China, Canada, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland and others.
Fundamentally, Óskar’s practice is regarded as a visual diary elucidating on his personal observations of the mundane, specifically in nature and people. His compositions allow multiple entry points for viewers, prompting them to reflect on the complexities of contemporary life.
Infused with a distinct twist, Oskar’s narratives are often sarcastic, but always offer genuine observations of his lived and built environment. A sense of levity and innocence is located within his narratives and murkiness of his palette, to operate as a ‘psychological counteract’ that enables him to maintain a bemused distance from the profane, the dark, and the obscene.
‘I have a hard time doing something totally right, whatever that could be and means and because of that, I have to find my own world of right and wrong.’
– Georg Óskar
Read Nida Home Doherty’s Exhibition Review for Centred.ca
