Georg Óskar
Oh my, oh my
The Exhibition Spaces on the 2nd Floor
08.08.—08.09.2024
Georg Óskar’s paintings are fictions based on common, even banal experiences from his daily life or from stories he has heard and immersed himself in. As these anecdotes are unleashed in a directness, often on large canvases, what is personal and introverted is converted into something universal. For Óskar, painting is an activity filled with the energy of necessity; however, it is occasionally disrupted by uncertainty. The paintings depict events and emotions from our everyday lives that are so commonplace we fail to notice them. Or it might be character traits that, while typical, we choose to ignore because they appear pathetic, yet here they are captured and accepted. By bringing the worldly onto the canvas, these elements are elevated while retaining their crookedness.
Óskar paints with quick, almost chaotic brushstrokes, continually striving for the moment when harmony arises. The anecdotes are transferred into colour and form. If something becomes too explicit, it is partially painted over. Text fragments appear as constituents of the works, just like a colour, a brushstroke, the title, a penis, a sun, an anecdote, a facial expression, a figure’s stance – they are all forms that are interrelated. If the text says too much, it must be removed, something else might need to be added.
Light and darkness are overarching themes. Opposites and extremes are often juxtaposed, which might result in a levelling effect – one element ironises another, softening or hardening it, functioning as a seasoning to balance out or spice it up, perhaps making the humour darker.
In his paintings, Óskar wishes to touch upon and encapsulate everyday and universal human experiences. What begins as particular real-life stories are processed until they reach a point where they are free and open enough to accommodate the viewer’s own stories.
Georg Óskar Giannakoudakis (b. 1985, Iceland) lives and works in Oslo. He has studied at the Akureyri School of Visual Art in Iceland, among other places, and holds an MA from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design. He has held several exhibitions both in Norway and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include those at JD Malat Gallery in London in 2024 and 2021 and New York in 2022, at BGE Contemporary in Stavanger last year, L21 Gallery (Palma De Mallorca, 2021), and Noplace (Oslo, 2020). Group exhibitions include the Summer Exhibition at JD Malat Gallery in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and Foundation Made In Cloister in Naples in 2022. In addition to his practice as a painter, he also works with music and text.
The exhibition is supported by the Norwegian Visual Artists Fund (BKV).