Painters in dialogue: Approaching Narrative

Hanneline Røgeberg (NO) and Bjørn Båsen (NO) are two artists who deal directly with how painting forms narrative. Røgeberg’s sensitive, charged works explore paradoxes of representation and language. Shifting between pictorial and abstracted modes, they often set up dialogues between works by directly pressing paint from one piece onto another. Båsen’s work deals with storytelling, creating layers of cultural and personal histories and myths. Often drawing on literature, Båsen’s visually rich narratives blur perceptions and unfold across multiple works.

This conversation will explore differences and overlaps in the artists thinking and processes. It will discuss narrative in painting as something that can be abstract and pictorial; preconceived or generated through process. It will ask, how important is it to understand an artist’s intention? The evening will start with a period to look at the works on show and mingle, before sitting down for informal discussion. The conversation is open to all present throughout.

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Hanneline Røgeberg (b. 1963 in Oslo) holds a BFA from San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA from Yale. Her work has been featured nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions at institutions such as Museoin Bozano, Henie-Onstad Kunstmuseum, Kistefos Museum, Vestfossen KunstLaboratorium, the Whitney Museum, the MIT List Center, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Aldrich Museum, Contemporary Art Center Cincinnati, Vancouver Art Gallery and Kunsthalle Andtratx, Spain. Currently a full professor at Mason Gross School of the Art, Rutgers University, she previously taught at University of Washington, Cooper Union and Yale School of Art, and was a visiting artist at Skowhegan in 2009. Rågeberg’s most recent solo exhibition was with Galleri Riis, Oslo in 2021. She lives and works in Oslo, Norway and Brooklyn, NY.

Bjørn Båsen (b. 1981 in Eggedal) is a visual artist and comic book creator. He studied at KHiO (Statens Kunstakademi) in Oslo and Arts University Bournemouth, England. Båsen predominantly works with painting and sculpture to explore notions of personal mythology in which individual works complement each other and form a "gesamtkunstwerk". The qualities of the handmade are central to his work, which has an emphasis on tactility and the qualities of luxury. His meticulous paintings and sculptures draw parallels to the view of the object as something precious in the art historical tradition. His work is held in private and public collections including, Astrup Fearnley Museum, KODE, Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum, Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, DNB and Equinor.

Painters in Dialogue is conceptualised by Rune Elgaard and Nicholas John Jones. Rune is a visual artist working predominantly with painting. He holds an MFA from Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Nicholas is an artist and organiser. He holds an MFA in Fine Art Painting from Slade School of Fine Art, London. He is Founder and Director of PRAKSIS (Oslo).