Olav Norlund (°1954, Skelleviken - SE)

Olaf Norlund was born in 1954 in Bizerte (Tunisia) to Swedish parents, of which the father was a traveling diplomat. After attending school secondary in Kenitra (Marocco) and Berlin (Germany), he returned to Sweden and enrolled in the Kungl. Konstfackskolan in Stockholm in 1972. Here he studied sculpture and drawing until 1974. He then moved to the Konstfack Institutionen to study Fine Arts until 1979.

He exhibited for the first time at the 1983 Uppsala Konsthus, where he encountered Arge Bildlund, Jan Monch and Vincent Mauby, who became friends and influenced Norlund’s early works. In 1984 he won the prestigious H.C. Dahl Award for Contemporary Art in Oslo. Between 1985 and 1989 his work was exhibited in several Swedish Art Galleries (such as Mulikken) and Norlund got well established. Seeking isolation, he left Stockholm in 1990 to first live in several Swedish villages until he finally settled in Osterfjärden. Here he still works and lives a secluded life.

Norlund's art is primarily based on organic materials and objets trouvés found in his studio and the surrounding landscapes. His work explores the struggle to escape from existential loneliness in societies that emphasize participation. As he explains, "The work may seem about confrontation, but is essentially about conversion and reformation into freedom." Norlund's conceptual work is marked by a sense of emptiness and impending danger, reflecting his own personality characterized by "constant doubt and disquiet. A never-ending quest."

His works reside in the permanent collections of the Schweizer Galerie in Vienna (Austria), the B.A.C.A in London (UK), het Gemeentemuseum in Amsterdam (Netherlands), the Soucasného in Prague (Czech Republic) and the Campbell Art Institution in Texas (USA).

FEATURED WORKS