For all

FOR ALL was the first exhibition at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, and contained more then 120 artworks from Jack Helgesen's collection of contemporary art.

Excerpt from Emilie Magnus’ foreword and text about painting in the catalogue For All:

“The collector Jack Helgesen and the artist Morten Viskum have initiated a collaboration at Kunstlaboratoriet – a meeting between a unique collector and connoisseur and one of Norway’s most controversial artists. Jack Helgesen’s collection has previously been displayed at Drammen Kunstforening where it attracted massive public attention – similar to the attention and occasional outrage that the work of Morten Viskum attracts. Consequently, the meeting between Helgensen and Viskum is expected to be unconventional and exciting. The result of their collaboration is the exhibition FOR ALL, which displays Jack Helgesen’s art collection, recognised a one of the most important private contemporary art collections in Norway.” (p. 1)

“In recent years, the death of painting has been proclaimed at regular intervals. In 1981, Douglas Crimp wrote in The End of Painting that the medium was a regressive investment in the past, and that it could no longer represent the world. (1 – see catalogue for reference) In contemporary art, the medium does not constitute its traditional place. However, lately we have seen experiments involving the painted image which show that the medium still has the capacity to reinvent itself. In Jack Helgesen’s collection, several successful painters are represented who explore precisely that possibility, revitalizing the painted image without subscribing to the expressive potential of a gesture or a brush mark. It has, during the 1990s, become clear that the digital revolution has found its way into the medium, and painters such as Dario Urzay, Peter Zimmermann and Torben Giehler, explore this new technological tool.” (p. 20)

Participating artists:

Fiona Banner, Vanessa Beecroft, Martin Boyce, Jes Brinch, Elina Brotherus, Jeff Burton, Marcela Leticia Cabutti, Nicola, Costatino, Jay Davies, Marco Evaristti, Torben Giehler, Richard Hawkins, Bill Jacobson, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Jon Kessler, Ola Kolehmainen, Abigail Lane, Tung Lu-Hung, Niko Luoma, Sally Mann, Jean Marc-Spaans, Paul McCarthy, Ian Mclean, Bjarne Melgaard, Jonathan Monk, Vic Muniz, Juha Nenonen, Hermann Nitsch, Jorge Pardo, Erik Parker, Marcia Pastore, Emilio Perez, Robert Pruitt, Heli Rekula, Les Rogers, Matthew Ronay, Sam Samore, Christian Schmidt-Rasmussen, Andres Serrano, David Shrigley, Thaddeus Strode, Hiroshi Sunairi, Dario Urzay, Luis Vidal, Morten Viskum, Charlies White, Tim White-Sobieski, Peter Zimmermann, Knut Åsdam.

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Installation photos: Ulf Rokkan