BOYISH AESTHETIC IN FAIRYLAND ...
Boyish Aesthetic in FairylandWorks by Fie Norsker
The Danish artist Fie Norsker works with a lot of different genres in her art; painting, drawing and ceramic. Norsker operates in a fairytale universe where ghosts, animals, muscle-men and strange creatures are present.
The drawings are very detailed and show the artist’s occupation with the human body but also with the landscape in which she often incorporates animals or big letters. The body depicted in some of her drawings is that of the exaggerated and grotesque bodybuilder which allows the artist to unfold an interest in lines and curves. The bodybuilder with his man-made and moulded body stands posing in a deserted, rough landscape – a juxtaposition which is full of contrast. The landscape seems to have a life of its own which in the drawings often is depicted with a grotesque sense of humour and fantasy. Piles of excrements are often part of the depicted landscapes in which the viewer gets a glimpse into a strange underworld. A place where nothing is as it seems...
The works in ceramics by Norsker are somewhat childish and almost naпve in their appearance. Small clumsy figures, often with no hands or feet stand helpless as the glaze drips down their body. The figures are full of humour as the artist plays with the material and the expressions. At first glimpse the figures seem sweet and innocent but they also have a serious side to them. For instance one of her ghost figures has a shot hole as mouth.
Clearly more serious aspects are present in the oil-paintings by Norsker - both via the topics and titles. The paintings often depict urban landscapes e.g. a factory alone in a rainbow-coloured almost psychedelic landscape. Other paintings are kept in darker colours and she zooms in on details of an abstract fantasy landscape. As opposed to the drawings with all their fine details the paintings are quite rough and simple. The oil is applied in wide strokes across the canvas and the surface is often built up by different colour-planes.
A series of red drawings on paper seem to combine the strategies of both her other drawings and her paintings. The red drawings have her typical detailing and also her painterly strategy of planes - but they also have an almost “graffiti attitude”. Different statements like “fucked up” and “angry anger” are scattered across brick walls or letters constructing small landscapes. These works seem to have a strong desire to communicate a message to the viewer – in this case the message is spelt out in capital letters revolving despair and anger.
Constructing different settings for her art Norsker has both the playful and the serious side present in her works. Even though some of her works seem to have a somewhat naпve appearance they are also full of energy. Even though a gender specific style always is debatable one tends to call her works “boyish” as her style is very rough and unpolished. Even her ceramics play on a kind of ugliness – a rebellion against the fine material perhaps. Instead of making her landscapes traditionally beautiful she fills them with excrement and strange figures. The “trash” look of her works gives a rebellious energy and reason disappears into a “hole in the ground”.
Helle Ryberg, curator, 2005.