To place yourself in front of a work by Simen Johan is to confront a pictorial world loaded to breaking point, due to the dense and compelling narration inherent in the image. You are faced with the task of interpretation, and the richness of the experience depends to a large extent on you, the viewer.

The New York-based Norwegian artist Simen Johan focuses with sensitivity and nerve on children and their world, yet his art is not aimed at children. Johan utilizes fictitious identities and illusory scenarios in his photographs, where the complexities of childhood comprise the central theme. Most of the images depict children at play in various uninviting settings, or sometimes merely the settings alone. The children exercise control; they are actively involved in a fantasy and a ritualistic world that excludes adults.

Simen Johan's visual universe raises two distinct concerns. On the one hand there is the challenge of interpretation, while on the other

- and just as important - there is the concern with the mechanisms of representation. The credibility of the images is essential to the experience. At the core of his intriguing and intricate images is the perfect relation between narrative flow and the digital execution of the photographs. One can be taken in by the complexity and plausibility of the image's unfolding story, even though one knows it to be constructed. And this in turn contributes to the fascination of the work. The photographs fuse realism and artifice to illusionistic high-lights.

Together with the board of Kunstnernes Hus, I am pleased to present the most comprehensive exhibition to date of works by Simen Johan.

In organizing this exhibition I have sought to present a selected number of successful works that illuminate the artist's development in recent years. The photographs in the exhibition represent an in depth view of the artist's series: Evidence of Things Unseen and Breeding Ground. For the past seven years I have followed Simen Johan's artistic career with admiration and an enthusiasm that has grown from series to series. The rich and complex pictures captivate and inspire continued investigation and presentation, and keep me in lasting anticipation of what Simen Johan might bring forth next.

I wish to express my gratitude and thanks to the artist, Simen Johan, for his enthusiasm during the making of this exhibition. Special thanks to the essavist, Gisle Ledel Johannessen. He succeeds brilliantly in capturing the curatorial take on Simen Johan by examining the philosophical underpinnings of the subject matter, and in shedding light on several other possible readings of the images. Special thanks also to A.D. Coleman for his essay. He has highlighted the skills and effort needed to construct each of the images. With these insights at hand I hope the photographs will stir further fascination among the audience, and empower you to see the works in the complex way they deserve to be viewed.

Malin Barth

Curator/Vice chair