BJØRN BÅSEN
Tainted Tales

Anya Tish Gallery is delighted to present Tainted Tales, the debut US solo exhibit of one of Norway’s leading young artists Bjorn Basen, whose works have been featured in museums throughout Europe, including the Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, the Sigdal Museum, Norway and the Solo Projects in Basel Switzerland, as well as numerous private and public collections.
Tainted Tales features two series of meticulously executed paintings: Taffel and Prism, which reveal an extravagant but disintegrating world that explores the paradox themes of decadence and virtue. The paintings embody both a sophisticated and saccharine sweet sensibility, which references the ornate approach of masters such as Watteau and Boucher in Late Baroque period as well as the kitschy aesthetic of contemporary Japanese painting by artists such as Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama.

Inspired by passages from the original ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll, Taffel depicts richly painted landscapes of opulent porcelain that are unconventionally cracked and broken, casting surreal and anthropomorphic shadows, which reveal subversive narratives hidden within bourgeois society.

Prism references one of the most celebrated coal mining novels, ‘Germinal’ by Emile Zola, and transforms the grimy environment of a mine shaft into a diamond encrusted cavern that sparkles and gleams, highlighting the stark contrast between the hazardous life of miners and the lifestyle of the diamond hungry aristocracy. In both series, paragraphs of the text are subtly buried beneath layers of paint, introducing an interactive quality to the work that invites the viewer to play an elusive game of hide and seek.

Tainted Tales blurs the line between honesty and irony, innocence and the corruption, creating a visual paradox between classical aesthetics and bourgeoisie sensibilities that equally seduces, delights and unnerves the viewer.

Press Release

Download Artist CV

Houston Press Review