Le Renne - Fredrik Vaerslev

This catalog accompanies the monographic exhibition of the Norwegian painter Fredrik Vaerslev at the Frac Bretagne in Rennes in 2022. He presents a new series painted specifically for the occasion into perspective with older and emblematic productions of his own. This retrospective dive into a corpus of nearly 15 years will continue a first presentation of the artist's practice in the context of his solo exhibition "Querelle of Brest" in Brest in 2015 (Passerelle center for contemporary art). 

Fredrik Vaerslev, born 1979 in Moss, Norway, is a Norwegian artist. His paintings originate in three essential aspects of life in suburban housing estates: the villa, the garden and the garage. They mimic both material appearance and the gradual wear of their surface to express the notion of time, central to his work. The artist prepares his canvases with industrial spray paints to which are added various recycled products: tar, anti-corrosion paint, anti-rust, etc. The canvases are then rolled up and subjected to various weather conditions before being exhibited, adding a random element of ornament to the artist's gestures.

"This retrospective dive into an artistic corpus engaged by Fredrik Vaerslev for nearly fifteen years continues a first encounter between this artist and Breton audiences during his solo exhibition in France entitled "Querelle of Brest" at Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain in Brest in 2015. As an art critic and curator, this exhibition echoes in a sensitive, delicate and constructive exchange anchored in eyes contact. When we start the collaboration, in the middle of the 2010s, both have our first exhibition, for Fredrik Vaerslev as a painter, I as a curator of paintings (...)". 

Excerpt from Etienne's Bernard introduction 

Texts by Étienne Bernard, Dieter Roelstraete and Fiona He