Sverre Bjertnes

Sverre Bjertnes: If you really loved me you would be able to admit that you’re ashamed of me.

A Projective Identification by Bjarne Melgaard

White Columns is proud to present the first solo exhibition in the United States by the New York-based Norwegian artist Sverre Bjertnes. The exhibition has been developed by Bjertnes in collaboration with the artist Bjarne Melgaard, and expands upon their earlier collaborative projects presented in 2012 at Oslo’s Rod Bianco Gallery and Galleri K, and at New York’s Maccarone Gallery in 2011 – as a part of the widely celebrated exhibition After Shelley Duvall ’72 curated by Melgaard.

The exhibition at White Columns, orchestrated by Melgaard, will take place in an optically charged environment. The exhibition will focus on a recent group of new paintings and works on paper by Bjertnes, but will also include a discrete number of Bjertnes’ earlier works (made between 1999 and 2008), establishing a historical context for his practice. Additionally the exhibition will include collaborative works made with both Melgaard and the artist’s mother Randi Koren Bjertnes, as well as a group of painted furniture works by the maverick furniture dealer and artist Robert Loughlin (1949-2011.)

Sverre Bjertnes (b.1977) is a Norwegian artist currently based in New York and Oslo. He studied initially in Trondheim, as a student of Odd Nerdrum, and then at the National Academy of Fine Art, Oslo (1995-1999.) Bjertnes work has been shown extensively in Scandinavia and Europe, and his work is in the collections of the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo; and the Kunstmuseum, Trondheim, among others. His work was included in After Shelley Duvall ’72, curated by Bjarne Melgaard for New York’s Maccarone Gallery in 2011. This will be his first solo exhibition in the United States.

Bjarne Melgaard (b.1967) is a Norwegian artist currently based in New York. He has had more than forty-five solo exhibitions, including most recently at Luxembourg & Dayan, New York (2012); and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2011.) A frequent curator and collaborator Melgaard has written more than a dozen novels and produced seven films. Recent curatorial and collaborative projects include After Shelley Duvall ’72, Maccarone, New York (2011); Ideal Pole a series of exhibitions at New York’s Ramiken Crucible; and Beyond Death: Viral Discontents and Contemporary Notions About AIDS – a project realized at the 54^th Venice Biennial by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA).

The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication developed and designed in collaboration with Brendan Dugan/Karma that includes a text by Melgaard and an afterword by Matthew Higgs.

In parallel to the exhibition at White Columns Bjertnes and Melgaard will debut a site-specific two-artist presentation of new collaborative works at the Armory Show (March 6-10, Pier 94, Booth 809) in the booth of Rod Bianco Gallery, Oslo.

For more information contact: info@whitecolumns.org