influence was “mainly cosmetic. We screwed around with the decor
and created an atmosphere that is surreal, odd and disturbing.”
When he’s not approaching artists and Norway’s big-money art
investors, Furuholmen’s been creating rather a lot of it himself.
In 2002, there was the Christmas tree at Oslo Central Station he
decorated with money, deciding to use his NOK14,000 fee as a
replacement for tinsel. There’s
Climax
,
the recycled aluminium
pyramid sculpture that’s greeted visitors entering the Nobel Peace
Centre since 2007; the Norwegian postage stamp he designed
in 2001; and the 11 storeys of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship he
decorated with glass works in 2005. This month he’s got a show,
NorwegianWood
,
at the Paul Stolper Gallery in London, which
features ten huge woodcuts inspired by The Beatles.
After leaving The Thief, we head to the Tjuvholmen branch of hip
restaurant chain Bølgen & Moi, where one wall is already covered in
Furuholmen’s
Confusion
,
a series of ceramic tiles covered in scrawled
letters, spelling out barely intelligible words. Today he’s mentoring
three artists fromOslo’s National School of Art, who are painting
a wall by the restaurant’s entrance with a panorama of mountain
peaks in bold acrylics. Twentysomethings Johan Carlsson, Carl
Segelberg and Helena Lund Ek greet Furuholmen like a fun uncle
and, as he encourages them to be bold and make mistakes, I think I
see the side of him that simply enjoys art and collaboration.
Yet he throws me again when he takes his leave to go home and
walk his dog. “The more time I spend with the dog, the more I
dislike people,” he says over his shoulder as he walks out. Like many
of his comments, it seems designed to provoke and obfuscate. After
a fascinating, scattergun few hours, I’m still not sure I know who
Magne Furuholmen really is – and I suspect that’s how he likes it.
Magne Furuholmen’s new show,
Norwegian Wood
,
is at London’s Paul
Stolper Gallery from3May until 1 June. Apparatjik play the National
Gallery of Art in Copenhagen on 3May
paulstolper.com, smk.dk
Find more online
thethief.com
stolperandfriends.
com
Book your tickets
norwegian.com
“
Sometimes it might not be me
in the cube – I mean, maybe
there’s a better me than me”
Apparatjik
perform at the
opening of The
Astrup Fearnley
Museum last
September
Can youmatch themusicianwith the art?
1.
2.
3.
4.
a) Ronnie Wood
b) Courtney Love
c) Bob Dylan
d) John Lennon
REX FEATURES. ANSWERS TO ART QUIZ: 1C; 2A; 3D; 4B
0 3 8 \
n
