Ane Mette Hol
Photo: Ingrid Eggen
It’s a great honour to receive such an award, and from this jury. It’s also an honour to have been nominated together with so skilled artists. It has been a real pleasure to be part of this,” says Ane Mette Hol.
Ane Mette Hol received the award at a ceremony Friday night, 16 December, in Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, Norway.
The four finalists nominated for the 2011 award were Marte Eknæs, Ane Mette Hol, Tori Wrånes and the group of artists Institutt for Degenerert Kunst. The nominees were selected by a professional jury and invited to exhibit their work at the current Statoil art award 2011 nomination exhibition at Kunstnernes Hus.
The jury’s statement
“The artworks by the winner of the 2011 award distinguish themselves formally, technically and conceptually. They are quiet in terms of expression and highly consistent in their exploration.
The works may be placed in a familiar art historical field which, among other practices, takes us back to the conceptual art of the 1960s, and subsequent artists who work with the recycling of existing material. The jury nonetheless experiences Ane Mette Hol’s approach to this field as challenging and innovative.
Her artworks are a result of a meticulous and time consuming work process. However, this is not just a matter of displaying great technical skill. The spectator is faced with a technical lapse of time, but also a refined and sensitive artistic process. This gives the works a characteristic and unexpected emotional atmosphere.
The precise exhibition presentation of Ane Mette Hol contributes to emphasise her deliberate attitude towards her work. Her practice is permeated with a convincing artistic consciousness, and a will to keep going forward.
The jury is certain that Ane Mette Hol will meet all the expectations we have for the winner of this award, and look forward to following her work in the future.”
The jury
As in 2009, chair of the 2011 jury is the internationally recognised artist and professor Olav Christopher Jenssen.
Additional jury members are Solveig Øvstebø (director at Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway), Øystein Ustvedt (curator at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway), Caroline Ugelstad (chief curator at Henie Onstad Art Centre in Bærum, Norway) and Göran Christenson (director at the Malmö Art Museum in Malmö, Sweden).
Prize premise
The basic premise behind the biennial Statoil art award is to stimulate young talents and help them develop their artistic potential. The NOK 500,000 (EUR 64,000) cash prize is the largest of its kind in Norway.
“We enthusiastically congratulate Ane Mette Hol as winner of this year’s award. She is a significant talent,” says Jens R Jenssen, leader of the Statoil art programme.
Tomorrow’s heroes
The art award forms part of Statoil’s Heroes of Tomorrow programme, which also awards prizes and grants to talented performers within the fields of education, classical and rock music, design and sport.
The first Statoil art award went to sculptor Camilla Løw in 2007. In 2009 it was awarded to the artist Lars Laumann.
More information on www.statoil.com/artprogramme
The winner
Ane Mette Hol (born 1979 in Bodø, Norway) works conceptually with drawing. Her work focuses on the relationship between original and reproduction, and it results in two-dimensional drawings, three-dimensional objects, sound installations and animations. She investigates drawing as a concept, where her work often infiltrates the context of the exhibition or questions the characteristics of the medium itself. Her reproductions are often materials or waste after the production of art works and exhibitions, but her work also seeks to explore drawing conceptually through absence and presence. She comments on our collective knowledge of art history in which we constantly recycle what already exists. Hol trained at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in Norway, and University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, Sweden. She lives and works in Oslo.
The nominees
Marte Eknæs (born 1978 in Elverum, Norway) works mainly with sculpture and digital prints. She applies her process of in-depth analysis and subjective understanding to materials and elements from the urban environment and objects from the domestic sphere. Combining these through a (mis)use of found strategies and her own formal systems, she creates multiple and alternative material relationships. In the gallery the works are often brought together forming temporary site-specific installations that integrate the architectural details in the space. Eknæs studied at the Glasgow School of Art in Glasgow, UK, California Institute of the Arts i Los Angeles, CA, USA and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design i London, UK. She lives and works in Berlin, Germany and in Stange, Norway.
Tori Wrånes (born 1978 in Kristiansand, Norway) works mainly with voice and sculpture based in performative art. When the performance is over, the objects are left behind, testifying to the action. Wrånes’ works are about human electricity in a focused period of time, where she tries to expand the concept of reality (through vocal and sculptural experiments). She graduated from Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2009, and lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, USA and Oslo, Norway.
Institutt for Degenerert Kunst was established in 2008 and consists of artists Anders Nordby, Arild Tveito and Eirik Sæther. Recent exhibitions are Haplorrhini, STANDARD (OSLO), Basel, Switzerland; Give It All Up Again, Gallery D.O.R., Brussels, Belgium; SPÅR, Malmö Art Museum, Malmö, Sweden; Chrysagire (The Gold of Expiation), WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, Belgium; Haplorrhini (An Anecdote through a Bottle), Landings Project Space, Vestfossen, Norway.
For more information, contact:
Jannik Lindbæk Jr
Vice president media relations, Corporate communication
Statoil ASA
T: +47 977 55 622
Email: JLJR@statoil.com