Behandling: Erlend Grytbakk Wold

Erlend Grytbakk Wold's canvases harken visions of nearly forgotten memories that capture our mind late at night, emerging when we least expect them. They are the images that start to take shape when we close our eyes, reminiscing on the past — imperfect, fragmented, long suppressed. And yet, their power leaves an imprint, and they are very much real and present as long we allow them to emerge. This new body of work, imbued with deeply personal and emotional narratives, reflects the artist's manner of meditating on his life and the development of his practice.

An essential aspect of the exhibition is the artist's willingness to engage with the matter in front of him in a way that avoids escapism or the act of discarding, instead focusing on picking up the pieces of the past to create new realities. He does this by working with scraps left over from his earlier endeavors, sewing minute fragments together, and adding cut-up pieces of discarded attempts and older works that have somehow overstayed their welcome. The resulting collages are stretched and then put through a process of spray painting using watercolors, layer by layer, utilizing canvas fragments as stencils. These same pieces of canvas are then later included in the collages. This approach involves blocking out certain parts of the surface while simultaneously painting others, resulting in an overlaying effect that adds depth and complexity to the artwork.

The canvas is taken off the stretcher bars, butchered, and reconfigured into new constellations before being stretched again on larger or smaller formats. This happens many times, resulting in traces of several generations of paintings within the work that stands before us. Working this way requires recklessness with the material, daring to take risks, and diving into the unknown. The process involves working half in the dark, where decisions are made by blocking out areas and using stencils, relying on blind faith in previous choices. It's a testament to Grytbakk Wold's trust in his instincts. Ultimately, an innovative and organic expression emerges, reflecting the artist's relationship with the medium and the world around him.

If there ever was doubt or hesitation on the artist's part to spill it all out, there is none here — instead, he revels in the excess that comes with the experience of being human. Thus, where there is fragmentation and chaos, there is also rhythm in form, movement, and color. The balance emerges in the interplay of these factors: the dance of the incidental and the intentional action and circumstance. Grytbakk Wold's willingness to embrace his vulnerability becomes evident through the reveal of this imperfection. 

Another unique element incorporated into the works is embroidery. In some works, the artist's full name serves as a way of signing the piece. In others, he repeats a single letter, reminiscent of a handwriting lesson, learning to write cursive, emphasizing different stages of development and completeness. Each piece feels complete in its own right, but there remains an underlying sense of fluidity and impermanence, as if these works are open to further change. Nothing comes from nothing. The canvas carries the legacy of previous creations, connecting past experiences with new ones, revisiting them not as a way to reminisce but as to demarcate transformation, revealing the symbiotic nature of the past and the present, of matter reshaped and reconfigured. The single sculptural work in the show is also a testament to this notion. Forged out of nearly 10,000 individual staples, every piece a remnant, collected and kept throughout earlier processes – 400 grams of useless refuse metal reforged into a tool in the shape of a knife.

With "Behandling," Grytbakk World's work recalls the composition of the vast strip of fields in Paul Klee's exploration of the landscape in Highway and Byways, 1929. A giant flap of colorful rectangles stretches over the landscape like one's mind is sectioned by different emotions or experiences. In Grytbakk Wold's case, he stitches these sections together to form a whole, but their different values remain demarcated by the uneven lines that indicate their connectedness. 

A question emerges — does the body or the mind hold dominion? Are they inseparable? Thoughts and emotions spill from work into private life, one relationship to another, one affecting the other, with the sole link between them being the individual. The works in the show embody the full scope of their creation. The labor, love, consideration, and materiality coalesce, each piece becoming a testament to the boundless possibilities of creative exploration and the evolving nature of the artistic process. 

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The exhibition is generously supported with a production grant from Kulturdirektoratet.