When Metal Becomes Nature
Galleri Langegården, Bergen (NO), 21.5–16.6.2019
Opening with book presentation: 21.5.2019, 6 p.m.
Galleri Langegården in Bergen, Norway, presents Pål Vigeland’s wonderful metalwork. Vigeland has been working as a metal artist for almost fifty years. The Norwegian started out as a jewellery artist, but has now become a fixture on the Norwegian art scene with his expansive sculptures.
In addition to the stringency of the design and the precision of the execution, Vigeland surprisingly develops variance in the use of the material. From the precious metals that he still used for his jewellery, his path led him to the intensified and now almost exclusive use of base metals: beverage cans, fish or biscuit cans, the artist transforms them into fine plates, which he assembles piece by piece into partly amorphous, partly geometric objects. Like an alchemist, Vigeland transforms the offside into art.
The sculptures develop a play of light and shadow, of cavities and layers, which seems to oppose the laws of physics.
A comprehensive monograph on Pål Vigeland has just been published in our programme.