RANSVE – Prints

Overview

The first presentation of Bjørn Ransve’s print works – as well as an index of the significant Norwegian artist’s works, which are of the highest aesthetic standards.

Bjørn Ransve (born in 1944 in Oslo) is one of the most significant contemporary Scandinavian artists. Following on from the publication of volumes about his painting and drawings, this publication with his prints completes the trilogy about his work.

Prints play an important role in his work. From the very beginning (since 1963) he has actively used the lithographic press. There are many pages that were only printed once. Then, in the 1980s, he created a whole flurry based on one motif, refined in stone or varying in colour. Since the end of 2012 he has also incorporated the frottage technique, which enables a completely new picture composition and opens up new artistic potential. Ransve’s world of motifs, often characterised by simultaneous abstraction and materiality, is expressed through drawings, paintings, and prints.

His motifs borrowed from art history, as well as his enigmatic, mystical, and demonic adaptations, often have an aggressive and distorted effect, whilst at the same time being presented in a very sensitive way. This ambivalence is a consistent feature of Ransve’s works, expressed perhaps most radically in works where the material collides with the abstract.

Ransve has had a significant influence on late modern Scandinavian painting and he is represented in all the major museums there. He is not part of the national and international gallery business and can therefore be considered an insiders’ tip in Europe and the USA!