TORBJØRN RØDLAND: "Fifth Honeymoon"

TORBJØRN RØDLAND

“FIFTH HONEYMOON”

13.09.2019-05.01.2020 / CONTEMPORARY ART KIASMA, HELSINKI

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In the autumn Kiasma features works by Norwegian artist Torbjørn Rødland. Rødland is known for carefully staged, beautiful photographs that evoke emotions. The subject is often a person in an intimate situation filled with tension and which allows multiple interpretations.

Bodies appear in Rødland’s work both as portraits and as individual parts or they appear as staged, typologized “characters” in the midst of a telling moment. Like the artist’s many still lifes, these photographs are made to reflect our complex and layered reality.

In his works, Rødland often combines figures asymmetrically. Old is coupled with young, different ethnic backgrounds mix, and the power relations of the models are out of balance: one dominates while the other submits. However, Rødland’s aim is to deconstruct these dichotomies by showing that they are intertwined. This idea repeats in many Eastern philosophies that for instance posit that it is impossible to comprehend good without evil.

The feeling of unease is also often present in Rødland’s photographs. In his works, the viewer encounters an ambiguous scene which may be the result of either tenderness or violence. It is up to the viewer to interpret the situation.

Although Rødland’s medium is photography, the key work in the exhibition Fifth Honeymoon is the new film Between Fork and Ladder, shot in Los Angeles and the scenic landscape of Norway’s Lofoten Islands.

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Finnish National Gallery Photography Service