ISCA GALLERY

Are Mokkelbost
DWELLINGS
12.05 - 11.06.22

ISCA Gallery is happy to present a solo exhibition by Are Mokkelbost. Mokkelbost's multidisciplinary practice is rooted in paper collage and experimental music. Taking cues from his collage methodology, he has gradually moved into a vast variety of materials and formats, often collaborating with artisans, during the last decade or so. What instigates such works are usually commissions. A school, a prison, a bank, a restaurant, a bar - they all present a set of opportunities and limitations, where adding formal limitations of ones own choosing is key to achieving a balance between meeting requirements and exploring new territory.

The unexpected hiatus due to the pandemic gave us all ample time to stay at home and blend work with free time. With both studio and living quarters in the Ensjø area in Oslo, a former industrial area turning residential, Are Mokkelbost spent that time experimenting with leftover materials and ideas, allowing them to blend together, adding reclaimed materials from nearby demolition and construction sites. Using the home as a test site for these works, they share a sense of domestic scale and purpose. Like plants, many are designated to the window sill or a shelf, depending on daylight to come to life. Others are simply to be sat on, or serve as a base for some other object. As such, these studio experiments appear just as much as a group as they do as individual statements. They are domestic doodles embracing both the decorative and utilitarian side of object-making, sculptural afterthoughts and possible, new beginnings.

Are Mokkelbost (b. 1976, Oslo, Norway) graduated from The Oslo Academy of Fine Art in 2002. He has had solo exhibitions at the Henie Onstad Art Centre (2013) and Molde Jazz Festival (2014), and group exhibitions such as at Kösk (2021), Oslo Kunsthall (2019), Pyton (2019, 2021, 2022) and David Risley Gallery (2014). He has made a number of public commissions, such as for Sparebankstifelsen (Sentralen, 2017), DNB (2012), Oslo Kommune (Bjørnsletta Skole, 2014 and Rommen Skole, 2010), Trondheim Kommune (Heimdal Skole, 2018 and Nardo Skole, 2009), Entra Eiendom (2021) and Selmer (2010). He is included in art collections such as The Henie Onstad Collection, DNB Art Collection, Selmer Art Collection, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hydro Art Collection, Kunst på Arbeidsplassen and Stiftelsen Betanien, as well as in several private collections. He has been awarded residencies at ISCP in New York (2008), W17 Kunstnernes Hus (2011), Dale International Art Center (2015) and Krabbesholm Højskole (2009) He has played in the bands KILLL, ARM, Single Unit and Juv, all of which he has art directed, released music with and toured. He is part owner of Becco Bar, which opened at Tullinløkka in Oslo in December of 2021. He took part in the planning of the renovation of the building in collaboration with Entra Eiendom and Kima Arkitekter, and designed the interiors and furniture for Becco.

Photography by Julie Hrnčířová