23 June – 10 October 2021
UKS

YOUNG DUMB & BROKE
#4 BRIT FUGLEVAAG

Running in parallel with UKS’ revolving solo exhibitions, YOUNG DUMB & BROKE is a series of displays, each mounting a single early work by an artist once young and unknown, who is today older and esteemed. Low-fi, slack goofs, or prodigy pearls, the series explores the span between young artists’ experiments and the hindsight and leverage of recognition, borrowing its title from a chart hit on the 2017 American Teen album by singer-songwriter Khalid.

The fourth edition in the series features an early work by BRIT FUGLEVAAG (b. 1939, NO). Fuglevaag was educated at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry in Oslo and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and has since her youth worked with weaving and textiles. As well as traveling, teaching, and exhibiting around the world, she has been politically active throughout her career and has held several positions in the Norwegian cultural scene, including in UKS and The Association of Norwegian Visual Artists (NBK).

The work presented at UKS is a sketch that was a study for a weaving shown in the same year as Fuglevaag’s debut at Høstutstillingen (The Autumn Exhibition) in 1965. The work was shown in a display case managed by UKS outside the Norwegian Parliament and became Fuglevaag’s very first sale. The watercolor sketch shows an abstract landscape in dark colors, inspired partly by Hannah Ryggen, with mountains, sea, sky, and openings that offer a peek into different realities. The weaving was made shortly after Fuglevaag’s one-year stay at the Academy of Fine Art in Warsaw. There Fuglevaag encountered a free and experimental textile art scene which had a huge impact on her. In Poland, textile was considered an artistic medium in its own right, in contrast to the Norwegian focus on utility weaving. Inspired by painting and sculptural composition, Fuglevaag’s works contain little ornamentation or motifs; rather they maintain a clear focus on material experimentation, technique, and color.

 

*In 2021–22 works by Brit Fuglevaag will be on view at several places in Oslo. From 12 August to 12 September 2021, she will have solo exhibitions at both SOFT Gallery and Kunstnerforbudet. From 12 November 2021 to 2 January 2022, a new commission by Fuglevaag will be part of UKS’ 100-year anniversary exhibition at Kunstnernes Hus.

#4 YOUNG DUMB & BROKE featuring Brit Fuglevaag at UKS. Photo by Øystein Thorvaldsen

This website uses cookies to give you the best experience of the site. By clicking “Accept” or by continuing to use the site, you agree to this use of cookies.