In the summer break I stayed at the school and had the whole painting department at the fourth floor of the main building to myself. My first work was a monumental diptych , 360x240 cm, with Robert De Niro from Taxidriver on the left an an image of a dogs head to the right. I called it A Woman Left Lonely, after the song of Janis Joplin (damaged .
I had invented a method to simplify digital images by mixing two layers reduced using a light threshold at different values. Much like the famous Hope image of Barack Obama. Only this was in 1996. The layers could easily be transferred individually to painting using overhead projections.
I made several images using this technique. It was sort of a artistic breakthrough for me (some damaged documentation pics).
The school moved this year to the Stentofon building across Inherredsveien. I got a very fine studio space on the sixth floor.
These two paintings were painted partly on the back of a glass plate and on top of veneer with acrylic and lacquer.
I made several abstract paintings with loose, broad brushstrokes and combined with flat surfaces. First with vinyl on glass like the first one, but later using a roller and tape.
This series is called Brand and was part of Trøndelagutstillingen in 1997.
I made a series based on the photograhs of Lennart Nilsson (some damaged documentation pics).
I produced a lot of paintings. The documentation was random, so many of them were never photographed. I started to install them in small groups with some on the wall and some on the floor leaning against it. I found it poetic to combinate images from totally different background. Mixing private snapshots and images from books and newspapers.
These were made from photos used in ads for apartments. I worked for a while with subtle distortions of the photographic image, such as contraction or extension.
This work was continuing the ideas from the Text installation. It also relates to the bars of text in translations of TV and movies.
Finally I did a three part series on coated aluminum. This work was also a continuation of an earlier work - Brown On White from my second year. Into The Mystic is of course the famous song by Van Morrison but also relates to Bruce Naumans The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths.
I had to move out of my studio because the school changed location. Instead I moved into Tine's apartment.
During the third year I made two solo exhibition in the project room with a lot of paintings in both. I actually managed to sell a few.
