Hanne Friis
Installation view. Metamorphoses(left) and Ornament Grey(right). Kristiansand Kunsthall 2019. Duo Exhibition with Thomas Hestvold. Photo: Øystein ThorvaldsenI discovered Hanne’s work on IG through a friend. A bio was found on artland.com, of which I’ll paste some highlights here: Hanne Friis works in Oslo, Norway and was educated at the Art Academy in Trondheim. Friis creates tactile sculptures of carefully hand dyed textiles with pigments from natural materials such as lichen, mushrooms, acorns and other plants. This process, while time-consuming, imbues the fabric with soft, almost otherworldly yet, fundamentally organic colours. The fabrics are elaborately sewn together by hand, often to the point where one wonders what one is confronted with. Her work gives the impression of uncontrollable growth, of burgeoning, swelling, multiplying masses. Her works are abstract yet bodily, beautiful yet unsettling. She is interested in the body’s vulnerability and human mortality, but also the power and fierceness of life.
Hanne Friis is known for monumental textile sculptures. The sculptures are shaped through a special folding and sewing technique carried out by hand. Dense layers of folds transform the loose material into a compressed mass and sculptural form. The sculptural forms are abstract, with references to the body and nature.
Exhibit at Vigeland is open through January 23, 2023