Light in particular has been a theme, both as a local color or its own color, the object unaffected by light or shadow – and in the play that occurs when these reflect and affect the subject. Carefully painted in one coat, Wiig Storaas’ painting has an airy feel where the picture surface seems to breathe.
Even if we think we see what a figurative painting depicts, it is not a given that we understand the whole picture. This is part of the quality of an artistic experience. The familiar resonates, but not the whole answer.
Marianne Wiig Storaas is after a period of prestigious, official portrait assignments of everything from the governor of the central bank to the striking portrait of Norway’s first female parliamentary representative Karen Platou, which received a lot of attention last year. Now she is back with a solo exhibition of landscapes, still lifes and interior motifs – which are not commissioned works. The freedom to choose the motifs herself shows a mature artist with considerable work pleasure and knowledge of the profession: Simply put, she emphasizes artisanal qualities and theoretical aspects from the Renaissance and Baroque, while at the same time allowing the painting tradition to meet experiences from modernist photography and conceptual art. She invites the viewer into private spaces that can turn out to contain common experiences. She is concerned with what lies behind the facade. Various exteriors and interiors that at first glance may appear idyllic, but where there are several layers and stories.
