Rune Olsen

March-April 2009

Project Description:

At the Sculpture Space residency I was able to experiment with new materials and techniques like sand-casting and plaster as well as working on two new figurative sculptures. Using my traditional technique with a welded armature, building forms from archival masking tape that is layered with graphite marks /Boodles/ is a kitten hanging by his paw from a noose – swiping at the audience. The piece explores the paradox between needing help and not being able to recognize or receive it. The other sculpture is a quartet of nine months old Golden Retrievers devouring a pig-head exploring the basic instinct of greed and gluttony in humans and animals. I feel particularly blessed by having shared the residency with some extraordinary artist and the exchange of conceptual concerns, techniques and experience in both life and art we did through presentations, dinners, and sharing studio space for two months. The convenient studio space set up at Sculpture Space also helped identify equipment and spatial organization I need for my studio that will allow for a more effective work process.

About the Artist:

Rune Olsen is a Norwegian artist living in New York. Since his first solo show in 1997 at UKS (Norway) he has exhibited in numerous galleries and museums throughout the USA and Europe, including Bronx Museum (NY 2001), Islip Art Museum (NY 2002), Jones Center for Contemporary Art (TX 2004), Aljira Center for Contemporary Art (NJ 2004) and, Smack Mellon and Exit Art (NY 2005). His life-size figurative sculptures examine the interplay among desire, power structures and society, and were in 2005 exhibited at the Istanbul Biennial. His work has been reviewed and featured in Art Forum, Sculpture Magazine, Boston Globe, Austin Chronicle, New York Times, and Star Ledger. Rune Olsen has won 11 awards from The Norwegian Government, including a distinguished Three-year work grant for young emerging artists. He has been awarded the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship, a studio residency with Artist Alliance in New York and a place at the renowned Art Omi International Artists Residency. Rune Olsen had a solo show with Samson Projects in 2007, and in 2008 he was included in the Norwegian Drawing Biennial at Kunstnernes Hus. He is currently exhibiting The Sex Lives of Animals at the Museum of Sex in New York.