Arvid Pettersen

Arvid Pettersen (b. 1943) is a grand old man in the Norwegian and Nordic art world. This will be the first comprehensive presentation of Arvid Pettersen’s oeuvre in a Norwegian art museum.

The exhibition Arvid Pettersen: On View is part of Kode's series of inclusive shows featuring important Norwegian artists associated with West Norway. 

The exhibition will include works from all of Pettersen's artistic career, with an emphasis on works from the 1980s and more recent works.

A reluctance for repetition

A reluctance to repeat himself has been a major driving force for Arvid Pettersen (b. 1943) throughout his more than fifty year long career as a visual artist. At the same time he has kept steadfastly to the traditional painting medium, both as a framework and a field of research. The classical genres such as landscape painting, portraiture and still lifes are taken up for renewed treatment in an idiom that has alternated effortlessly between representation and abstraction.

A willingness to embrace change is also clearly visible in his newest works, which represent a new phase in his artistic career. Overall, his production demonstrates the gradual development of a personal imagery, and a heightened awareness of the artwork’s communicative force in relation to its public.

Postmodern painting

With his free and slightly anarchistic approach to tradition Pettersen appeared as a central proponent of postmodern painting, both in Norway and its neighbouring countries. Alongside extensive exhibition activity he has taught in periods at Norwegian art academies, which in turn has had a significant influence on his own work.

Starting out on the local art scene in Norway during the 1960s, Arvid Pettersen has gained recognition via numerous exhibitions in the Nordic countries and participated in international art shows at the Venice Biennal in 1967, the Guggenheim Museum New York, in 1982, and the Chinese European Art Center in Xiam, in 2001, to name a few.