Lot 386: f - Bjorn Ransve Norwegian b. 1944 , Ape

signed and dated Bjørn Ransve / 1995 on the reverse oil on board

125 by 94cm., 49¼ by 37in.

Painted in 1995, the present work relates to a series of drawings that Ransve executed the same year (see: Cecilie Brundtland, Eva Furseth and Eivind Tjoenneland, Ransve, tegninger l961 - 2005, Stuttgart, 2006, pp. 374-376).

Educated at the Oslo Academy of Art, Ransve draws from the widest possible range of visual and historical references to create lucid and powerful images of existential and melancholic anxiety that move between the macabre and the ecstatic.

Ransves depiction of the ape explores his interest in the humanisation of animals. Using strong colour contrasts and vivid brush strokes Ransve gives expression and movement to the subject. As with the present work, his ape portraits suggest the loneliness and isolation of the animal, the series capturing the tension between the inner self of the animal, the physical limitations of the body and the viewers preconceived attitude towards the subject.