Crystal Clear Light I, July 29. - Sep 25., 2023
Duo exhibition with Siv Bugge Vatne (NO) at Dimensions Variable, Little Haiti, Miami, FL
Curated by Arnhild Sunnanå (NO)

The Crystal Clear Light duo-exhibition by Margrethe Aanestad and Siv Bugge Vatne revolves around nature and the universal mysteries in an abstract and subtle way. Through creating sculptures, drawings and paintings of materials like stone, wood, pastel chalk, pencil and ink both artists seek to materialize and visualize some of the many wonders of existence.

This is the first time the two Norwegian artists are showing together as a duo. Both artists are investigating the incomprehensible sensations and experiences that might be evoked by relating closely to nature. The unknown and mysterious is often referred to as the occult. On the contrary these two artists believe that these intangible aspects of nature are something that can be found everywhere and that can be expressed and envisioned through art. Like details and revelations emerging through a crystal-clear light.

Silent Transition is the title of one of Aanestad’s series of monumental pastel chalk drawings and four are selected for this show. Even though the high-rise rectangular shape is presented in quite different ways they all seem to be in a stage of metamorphosis.

Aanestad´s continuous investigation of the never-ending shape of the circle is here represented through one painting in shimmering gold on unprimed canvas. Her works on paper, canvas and stone drive our attention to dimensions like volatility and eternity through the inherent materialities like tactility, weight, color, light, reflections, and alternations. Reminding us of arts’ ability to inform a continuous examination of our perceptual awareness of both ourselves and of the world.

Bugge Vatne presents several sculptural works from her ongoing «Humming»- project. Humming refers to songs without words, the sound of flying insects, or the dark and unperceivable hum from the Big Bang. The project explores how we experience reality without words. Her sculptures are made from found materials often from garden waste and gravel from a neighborhood street. Both artists have included one work created here in Miami.

Approximately 50 of Bugge Vatne´s drawings, inspired by her longtime research of the Voynich manuscript, will be shown for the first time in Crystal Clear Light. This fifteenth-century codex is also referred to as the world’s most mysterious book, written in a language no longer known. Among her drawings are carefully selected parts of the illustrations and text from the manuscript. Included in this exhibition is the recently finished colored drawing of the so-called Rosette page. Bugge Vatne understands this as a kind of map of heaven, and some of her interpretations of the text are included in her enlarged version.

In Crystal Clear Light we have tried to compose a meditative space where sensations and tactile dynamics between the artworks can vibrate. In these disturbing times, my overall aim has been to create an exhibition where the visiting audience will stay and contemplate, and hopefully feel the urge to come back several times. Complementary to this exhibitions theme I will include a super short poem of the Norwegian poet and psychologist Helge Torvund: Lyset du treng finst / The light you need exists.

- Arnhild Sunnanå, curator

Photo: Siv Bugge Vatne

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The exhibition is supported by OCA (Office of Contemporary Art Norway), Rogaland County Council, City of Stavanger.

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