Lot 101: MATIAS FALDBAKKEN

Untitled (Canvas #01)

152.5 x 152.5 cm (60 x 60 in)

canvas tape on linen

2007

Oslo, Standard (Oslo), <em>Paintings, Props and Problems (Still Unresolved)</em>, 30 August&#8211;30 September 2007

Standard (Oslo), Oslo
Acquired from the above by the present owner

<em>Untitled (Canvas #01)</em> is a work by the Norwegian artist Matias Faldbakken. The Oslo-based artist explores the languages of underground cultures, extremism and vandalism through his highly eclectic work. Using fine art, the artist merges the concepts of the normative and the rebellious. In the present lot, Faldbakken employs the most conventional medium &#8211; canvas &#8211; but uses abstracted, barely decipherable letters as the subject of the painting, showing a conceptual debt to anti-establishment movements such as Dada and punk. Believing that contemporary art is not the tool with which to dictate moral or political views, Faldbakken does not wish to impose his ideas on the spectator: &#8220;I use my art as a tool [for] doing silent, negativistic gestures without any intention of convincing, impressing or communicating with an audience&#8221;.