Kenneth Varpe

Kenneth Varpe (b.1978, Klepp) has in recent years been making self-reflexive paintings, in which paint is both the motif and the material. Varpe depicts clumps of paint and impasto brushstrokes so realistically that he achieves a trompe l’oeil effect, tricking the eye into believing the thing that is rendered is truly there. Playing with paint as both object and image points to the duality of painting: representation and presentation.

Varpe has an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art & Design (2001), and a BA(Hons) in Fine Art Painting from Grays School of Art & Design (2000). In addition to his own practice as an artist, he has also been involved in other aspects of the art field, in a span between production and dissemination, as well as through board positions in, among others, Young Artists' Association and Norwegian Visual Artists' Fund. Solo exhibitions include the display of new works at Kunsthuset Kabuso, summer 2025, "That which reveals itself" at Haugesund Art Association 2023, "Fluid Pose" at Bryne Art Association 2020, and the group exhibitions Vevringutstillingen in 2024, Høstutstillingen 2022, "Fra Balkongen" Stavanger Art Museum, 2020.