Henrik Olai Kaarstein

Selected Works

Biography

Born in 1989 in Oslo, Henrik Olai Kaarstein currently lives and works in Brussels. His practice involves manipulating textiles, paper, and wood with a range of transformative agents. Embracing chance and unpredictability, his process often begins by the soaking of various materials—towels, leather, cardboard—in a mixture of chemicals that might include paint, glue, or acetone. The objects emerge modified in unforeseen ways—they are stiffened and stained, corroded and calcified. For other bodies of work, the artist transfers images between two surfaces, similarly ceding control and allowing for unexpected translations of marks from one material to the next. Given his emphasis on process rather than outcome, the artist's works are visually diverse. In his latest painting series, Kaarstein embraced his own household environment and he developed an attentive gaze to the objects that are transferred on color fields canvases, becoming a metaphorical manifestation of affection towards the world around him.

Gallery Exhibitions

Other Venues

CV

Education

2010

Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main
(Class of Willem de Rooij)

2009 – 2010

Nordland College of Art and Film, Kabelvåg, Norway

Solo exhibitions

2022

‘Necessities’, Etablissement d’en face, Brussels
Breadbox Contemporary, Oslo

2019

‘Mad about it’, Gether Contemporary, Copenhagen

2018

‘Lei Deg’, Christian Torp, Oslo

2017

‘No Need For Good Luck’, Gether Contemporary, Copenhagen
‘New Promises’, c-o-m-p-o-s-i-t-e, Brussels

2016

‘Well Received Lies’, T293, Rome

2015

‘This has nothing to do with this or Same as it never was’, WARM, São Paulo

2014

‘Pride’, Galerie Catherine Bastide, Brussels
‘Aftershape’, Il Crepaccio, Milan
‘Warm Embraces’, Tidens Krav, Oslo

2013

‘Mothers’, T293, Naples
‘Isn’t’, Welcome Screen, London
‘Charmless’, ReMap 4 (w/ T293), Athens

2012

‘Turning and Returning’, T293, Rome

Group exhibitions

2021

‘Hopeless Romantics’, Centre for Contemporary Art FUTURA, Prague, Czech Republic
‘All Great and Precious Things’, T293, Rome

2020

‘No Day but Today’, Bjurholmsgatan 3C, Stockholm

2019

‘Group show’, Gether Contemporary, Copenhagen
‘If you don’t like art, goodbye, fuck off, go home…’, Nordic Contemporary Art Collection, Kristianstad, Sweden
‘Sun and Spring in January – Next generation in Norwegian Contemporary Art’, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo

2018

‘Dreaming’, Pantaleonsmühlengasse, Cologne
‘June show’, Kunsterforbundet, Oslo

2017

Kristiandsand Kunsthal, Kristiandsand, Norway
‘Concrete Island’, Christian Torp Gallery, Oslo
‘Call me’, Carl Kostyal, Stockholm

2016

‘BELOVED IN THE LANDSCAPE’, New Bretagne / Belle Air, Essen, Germany
‘…ma l’amor mio non muore. Opere dalla Collezione Alloggia’, Casa Museo Ivan Bruschi, Arezzo, Italy
‘T293-in-residence’, Via Gabba 1, Milan

2015

‘The World is Made of Stories’, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo
‘Parked Like Serious Oysters’, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main
‘F •R •I •E •N •D •S ✓Friends’, Evelyn Yard, London
‘Karmic Thermal’, Ideal Uh-huh, Berlin
‘Outdoor I’, WARM, São Paulo
‘NN-A NN-A NN-A – New Norwegian Abstraction’, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo

2014

‘THE GO-BETWEEN. A selection of emerging international artists from the Ernesto Esposito Collection, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
‘De Generation of Painting’, Fondazione 107, Turin
‘Nuit Américaine’, Office Baroque, Brussels
‘Do not disturb’ (At the invitation of Elmgreen & Dragset), Gerhardsen Gerner, Oslo
‘Touched (2)’, Apt. 302, Marseilles
‘Snakes in the Grass’, Clarence Mews at 10 Northington St., London

2013

‘Touched’, Art Metropole, Toronto
‘Mild Mania’, 68m² Art Space, Copenhagen
‘Influence’, Galerie 1m³, Lausanne
‘Wassup Painters’, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles
‘Merry Company’ (w/ Buck Ellison), Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt
‘Følsomme Gutter 3’, Bergen Kunsthall

2012

‘Pour_ce_laine’, Leonhardi Kulturprojekte, Frankfurt
‘Busy Sleep’, online art project (www.busysleep.com)
‘Idea is the Object’, D’Amelio Gallery, New York

2011

‘Open Kunsthall’, Oslo Kunsthall, Oslo
‘Hard Glance //Soft Rock’, Kuk & Parfyme zine # 2 Exhibition, Holodeck, Oslo
‘Deep Sea Adventure’, Apartment exhibition, London
‘Projectile Weapons’ (w/ Thomas Grødal), NICC exhibition space, Antwerpen

2010

‘You Like Diamonds, I Prefer Cash’, Nordland College of Art and Film degree show, Galleri Lille Kabelvåg, Kabelvåg

2009

‘Whale Carpatio’, Forgotten Bar Project, Berlin

2008

‘Prøverommet’, Fincken Bar, Bergen
‘Exhibition Without a Name’, Markveien 46, Oslo