Identity is clearly a theme in Furuholmen’s work. In some of
Apparatjik’s most recent shoots, band members wear paper masks
of their own faces, though the idea has been going longer than that.
In 2007, Furuholmen asked his fans to send in dolls of himself as
they’d like to see him in his next incarnation. The dolls were then
exhibited to a soundtrack of him talking about art. Some were
creepy, others beautifully handcrafted. None, thankfully, were
pierced with voodoo needles. “I wanted people to be involved,” he
explains. “Is it enough that I stand there and you watch?”
Hours have gone by and we’ve barely scratched the surface of
Furuholmen’s art, which stretches to six pages on his online CV,
dating back to 1994, when A-ha went on a hiatus (they reformed in
1998,
and played on and off for the next 12 years). Most notably in
the past few years, he has become co-owner of Stolper & Friends, a
Tjuvholmen gallery that opened in 2011, with gallerists Paul Stolper
and Hugo Opdal. The gallery’s roster of artists includes Furuholmen,
English pop artist Peter Blake and Damien Hirst, who Furuholmen
also persuaded to cover the nearby Shed 13 warehouse with huge
butterflies to mark the opening of the gallery.
The warehouse is now covered by motifs fromPeter Blake’s
The
Oslo Suite
and Furuholmen tells me he’s been trying to get the
warehouse reworked by Shepard Fairey, the American skater-cum-
graphic artist behind the iconic Barack Obama “Hope” poster. Then
there’s the Apparatjik Suite at The Thief, although he says his
»
Above and left
⁄
Furuholmen’s
Confusion
at restaurant Bølgen &
Moi, where he examines
a work-in-progress by
students
Far left
⁄
The members
of Apparatjik at The Thief’s
Apparatjik Suite, which
Furuholmen helped design
The Tjuvholmenmatrix
The Thief
hotel
The Astrup
Fearnley Museum
Damien
Hirst
Stolper &
Friends Gallery
Local
artists
Furuholmen
supports local art
students, such as
the trio painting a
wall at Bølgen & Moi
Furuholmen persuaded
Hirst to cover the
Shed 13 warehouse in
butterflies in 2011
Furuholmen persuaded Blake to
cover the Shed 13 warehouse with
The Oslo Suite
motifs last year
Blake
exhibited
at the old
museum
in 2011
The Thief
provides a
platform for
local artists,
including
Charlotte
Thiis-
Evensen’s
Islam-
inspired
video
Hirst contributed cows and more
to the Astrup Fearnley Museum
Both Hirst
and Blake are
signature artists of
Stolper & Friends
Guests at The
Thief can play
Furuholmen’s
Climax Card
Game
Sir
Peter
Blake’s
work
is on
display
at The
Thief
Furuholmen
designed the
Apparatjik
suite with
interior
designer
Karina
Holmen
Furuholmen’s band,
Apparatjik, played at
the opening of the new
museum last year
Furuholmen co-owns
Stolper & Friends with
prominent gallerists Paul
Stolper and Hugo Opdal
Guests at The Thief get into the sister museum next door for free
The Astrup Fearnley lends work to The Thief, from
Andy Warhol to Antony Gormley and Richard Price
In 2011, Blake paid homage to Hirst with a
series of silkscreen butterfly prints
British pop artist
Sir Peter Blake
Everything’s connected in Oslo’s self-styled new art district
HA AKON HARISS, EVY ANDERSEN, CORBIS
PETER BL AKE IMAGE COURTESY OF WADDINGTON CUSTOT GALLERIES, LONDON
Magne
Furuholmen
n
/ 0 3 7
