• Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementBase::execute($args = [], $options = []) should either be compatible with PDOStatement::execute(?array $params = null): bool, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2244 of /home4/djh007/davidharris.space/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementEmpty::current() should either be compatible with Iterator::current(): mixed, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2346 of /home4/djh007/davidharris.space/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementEmpty::next() should either be compatible with Iterator::next(): void, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2346 of /home4/djh007/davidharris.space/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementEmpty::key() should either be compatible with Iterator::key(): mixed, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2346 of /home4/djh007/davidharris.space/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementEmpty::valid() should either be compatible with Iterator::valid(): bool, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2346 of /home4/djh007/davidharris.space/includes/database/database.inc).
  • Deprecated function: Return type of DatabaseStatementEmpty::rewind() should either be compatible with Iterator::rewind(): void, or the #[\ReturnTypeWillChange] attribute should be used to temporarily suppress the notice in require_once() (line 2346 of /home4/djh007/davidharris.space/includes/database/database.inc).

Progress

ANN BEATE TEMPELHAUG AND EIRIK GJEDREM
at Kraft Gallery, Bergen until 4 August

Visiting Kraft Gallery’s latest exhibition, one could be forgiven for simply admiring Templelhaug’s abstract paintings, that give a nod to Turner and a wink to Monet, oblivious to how the works came into being. Behind the carefree and uplifting expressionism on their surfaces, the works have a more woeful origin.

The artist tells me that ten years ago, whilst battling addiction and depression, she made a promise to herself to create artworks larger than herself. She wanted to work on a scale that strengthened her connection to her artistic practice and reconnected her to life itself. The works began as a life-support system.

Evidence that her promise has been kept can be seen in her latest exhibition. Considering their material, the pieces are monumental in scale and installing the artworks involves a small crane and some serious muscle. Each of her wall-mounted earthenware pieces weighs around 100kg and are almost two meters long.

“I don’t see the works as paintings”, she tells me timidly. Her works hang like paintings, but are also organic and sculptural in form, with a strong connection to ceramics. They appear as oversized plates or dishes, shallow, human-sized receptacles. The works’ tactility seduces the viewer - and indeed the artist - as much as their floral-like landscapes.

Her life-saving practice produces extraordinary objects, how ever one decides to categorise them, and the symbolism in their production is equally poignant. The clay used in the works in not purchased by the artist, but is excavated locally for the artist. She carefully adds various concoctions to this resurrected primordial mud, giving it strength, pliability and resilience.

Once the material has been been nurtured, strengthened and formed, it endures days’ of firing and refiring, painting, drawing, marking and texturing. Eventually, from the cramatorial kilning and after an intense artistic battle, a new artwork rises from the ashes, ready to face the world.

Progress runs until 4 August.

David Harris -