“This is the finest Britannia exhibition ever. An exceptional exhibition, on a European level," said Håkon Bleken when he visited Arnold Dahlslett's exhibition at Britannia Hotel a few days before the opening.
It is rare to hear Håkon Bleken speak so enthusiastically about an exhibition. In Dahlslett's pictorial world, Bleken recognises works of great significance.
This is the second time Dahlslett has exhibited as ‘Britannia Artist’. As with the previous occasion in 2020, the artist’s works are displayed over three floors of the hotel. The works will be on display for approximately six months, beginning with the opening date on Wednesday 13th September.
At the age of 75, and while in the midst of a period of serious illness, Dahlslett has painted 180 works for this exhibition. It’s no small achievement. Some are created in his studio in Germany, most in the studio at the artist’s home in Namsos.
Several institutions were keen on hosting the artist’s seminal exhibition, which coincides with his 75th year. Fortunately for Britannia's art-interested public, Dahlslett accepted the invitation to come back to the hotel to mark the anniversary.
When Arnold Dahlslett travelled to Germany as a young man, it was to become a graphic designer in advertising. Fortunately, he turned his focus to art and was shaped by his years at the Art Academy in Stuttgart and not least the works of German masters such as Albert Dürer and Horst Janssen. In Norway, he was recognized as one of our most exciting graphic artists, with purchases by, among others, the National Museum.
Arnold Dahlslett is known as one of Norway's foremost graphic artists. In recent years, however, the artist has devoted more attention to painting and sculpture, and this is where his artistry has really grown. The motifs still revolve around the meeting between nature and geometry, cultural history and the present.
But as Håkon Bleken said when he visited the exhibition: "Something soulful has entered the paintings."
Britannia Hotel’s Curator, Stein Slettebak Wangen, has followed Dahlslett's artistry since the 1980s and says that “then as now, each new exhibition is like entering a labyrinth full of floating women and men, geometry and archeology painted from a harmonious palette.”
“Format-wise, these are large, masterful paintings with the title I åpningen (“in the opening”), often with a male figure in focus. I don't know where he's going. What I do know is that I'm glad I'll never find my way out of Arnold Dahlslett’s labyrinth.”
Text by Stein Slettebak Wangen, curator at Britannia Hotel.
Translation and images by Wil Lee-Wright.