Runa Vethal Stølen
Kontrapunkt
Exhibition spaces on 1st floor
20.10.22 – 20.11.22

Runa Vethal Stølen's exhibition of jewellery in the exhibition spaces on the 1st floor is based on a concept from the world of music. The works in Kontrapunkt [Counterpoint] are made up of rows of simple, folded shapes, similar to Japanese origami, where each element is repeated and assembled with small variations which creates an improvisational framework for a larger, holistic pattern formation.

Kontrapunkt consists of new and a selection of older works with variations in expression between chaos and order. The materials are steel and silver with a treated surface. To emphasize structures, a neutral colour palette is kept with nuances of light or golden metal to dark grey.

Examination of the boundaries between the chaotic and the perfectionist have been consistent throughout Vethal Stølen's artistic practice. Informed by intuitive sketches on paper, she makes spatial compositions in metal in which the duality between structure and disorder remains the crucial element.

Runa Vethal Stølen (b. 1975) lives and works in Oslo. She is educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, where she obtained her Master's degree in 2009. Vethal Stølen has had solo exhibitions in Atta Gallery, Bangkok; Akershus Art Centre, Lillestrøm; Galleri Kraft, Bergen and Galleri Four, Gothenburg. She has participated in several group exhibitions at home and abroad, including Nordenfjeldske National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Trondheim; Trøndelag Center for Contemporary Art, Trondheim; Hydrogen Factory, Fredrikstad; The House of Signatories, Vilnius; Beatrice Knoch Creation, Paris and Schmuck Jewellery Week 2017, Munich. Her work has been acquired by the KODE museum, the National Museum and Nordenfjeldske National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design. Runa Vethal Stølen is chairman of the board of Norske Kunsthåndverkere.

The exhibition is supported by the Arts Council Norway.

In connection with the exhibition Kontrapunkt, a monograph with the same title will be published. The launch will be on Thursday November 17, 18:00, at Kunstnerforbundet. The publication is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Norwegian Crafts.