Bjorn Ransve - Paintings: Catalogue raisonn 1964-2009

BjArnRansve(b.in1944)isoneofthemostimportantcontemporaryNorwegianartists.SincetheonsetoflateModernism,hehasplayedacrucialroleinshapingpaintinginScandinaviaandtodayhisworksarerepresentedinallimportantmuseumsthere.IntherestofEuropeandtheUS,heisregardedasaninsidertipforcollectors.AparticularlystrikingaspectofRansve'sworkistheconstantshiftbetweentherepresentationalandabstraction-ofteninparallel.Inaddition,heisaconsummatemasteroftraditionaloil-paintingtechniques-workingthemediuminanythingfromsmallformatstocanvases15metresacross.His1960sfragmentedbodies,hissearchingstudiesofanimalcadavers,themotifshehasborrowedfromthehistoryofartandhisenigmaticallydemonicvisionsoftenlookaggressiveanddistortedyetaresensitivelyexecuted-anambivalencethatinformsRansve'soeuvreandisperhapsmostradicallyexpressedinworksinwhichtherepresentationalclasheswithabstraction.ThisbookprovidesasurveyofRansve'simpressivepainterlyoeuvre.Theaccompanyingtextinvestigatesthechangingandrecurrentgroupsofmotifsandplacestheworksintheirarthistoricalcontext.SinceeachpageofthebookhasbeendesignedindividuallyinclosecollaborationbetweenRansveandthegraphicartistandbookdesignerSilkeNalbach,BjArnRansve'sdevelopmentasanartistcanbetracedinawaythatisparticularlyilluminating.