BERLIN.- Gerhardsen Gerner announces the Norwegian artist Per Inge Bjørlo’s first exhibition with the gallery.

This is the first solo exhibition of the artist’s work in Germany since his show Inner Space II. Norealis at Galerie DAAD in 1986.

In the mid 1980s a series of genre-transcending presentations established Per Inge Bjørlo in the international arena, eventually including his participation in biennials in Sao Paulo and Venice. Bjørlo’s output spans graphic art, sculpture, drawing, and painting in favour of a ‘total artwork’. His series of works entitled Inner Spaces involves and envelops the public, in the sense that one could actually enter into the artwork. In many ways Per Inge Bjørlo introduced installation art to Norway’s institutions.

Central to the exhibition at Gerhardsen Gerner is an ongoing project, entitled The Weight of the Lung and Crow Sound, on which the artist started working in 2012. It is a constantly growing installation consisting of objects, sculptures, paintings and drawings. Per Inge Bjørlo’s artistic expression reflects his need to articulate experience in the form of structures – constructed from the inside and out – in materials such as stainless steel, glass and light. They are mental condensations; highly personal stories with many layers of meaning and recollections. These dramatic installations reflect the dark gravity in the artist’s work, and succeed in creating a concentrated tension. Today, some of them can only be experienced through documentary material, while others are accessible in institutions and museums.

Per Inge Bjørlo has been most active in the Scandinavian countries, where museums and institutions like Louisiana Art Museum in Denmark, the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, along with the National Museum of Contemporary Art and the Astrup Fearnley Museum, both located in Oslo, have discovered the importance of his oeuvre within the nordic art scene and supported his artistic production. With this show Gerhardsen Gerner aims to reestablish this important Norwegian artist on the international art landscape.

Bjørlo was born in 1952 in Spjelkavik, Ålesund. He lives and works in Hønefoss, Norway. His work has been featured in numerous institutional exhibitions within Scandinavia and beyond, including: Vandalorum, Värnamo; Bomuldsfabriken, Arendal; Bergen Kunstmuseum, Bergen; Henie Onstad Artcenter, Oslo; Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo; The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo; Lillehammer Artmuseum, Lillehammer; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk; XLIII La Biennale di Venezia, Venice; Daad Galerie, Berlin; 18th International Art Biennial, Sao Paulo.

Group shows include: Bjørlo/Sandberg, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo; Norwegian Profiles. Bjørlo/Sandberg, Gothar Kunstforum, Cologne; Folkwang Museum, Essen; Kunsthalle Essen, Essen; Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock; Seoul International Print Biennial, Seoul; Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock; Barclay/Bjørgengen/Bjørlo. Extended Points, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.