Olav Christopher Jenssen
12.03.15 – 17.05.15
We warmly welcome Olav Christopher Jenssen back to Kunstnernes Hus with a wall work Lack of Memory / Résumé specially made for the house's foyer. In 1992, Kunstnernes Hus was the scene of Jenssen's breakthrough exhibition Lack of Memory. The exhibition consisted of a series of 43 paintings that articulate a completely distinctive and personal form of abstraction. In the same year, a selection of the paintings was presented at Documenta IX in Kassel. One painting from the series was never shown; Lack of Memory No. 44, and Jenssen will create a monumental frame around this painting. Kunstnernes Hus is now pleased to be able to close the circle between past and present and present this work as part of our series of Foyer Exhibitions.
About the artist
Olav Christopher Jenssen (b. 1954) lives and works in Berlin. He is a Norwegian visual artist educated at the Norwegian School of Handicrafts and Art Industry and the Norwegian Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo. Jenssen is considered one of the most recognized living Norwegian artists, with a significant international career.[1] He has lived and worked in Berlin for a number of years. From 1996 to 2003 he was professor of painting at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg, and since 2007 he is professor of painting at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Braunschweig. In 1992, he was selected to exhibit at the prestigious exhibition documenta in Kassel, Germany. Of Norwegian museums, Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum has the largest collection of Jenssen's art, as the artist donated 95 works to the museum in March 2014. The works were shown in the exhibition The Donation in the period 15 March – 1 June 2014. He was a festival exhibitor in Bergen in year 2000.
The painting series Lack of Memory (1992) was voted one of Morgenbladet's 12 most important works of art.
In 2015, Jenssen was appointed a knight of the 1st class of the Order of St. Olav "for his efforts as an artist."
