NEWS

Museum Collection: KUNSTSILO / SKMU aquires two important Per Fronth artworks for from the # Product Placement -series:

KUNSTSILO / SKMU Aquires two important Per Fronth artworks:
Norways new contemporary art museum, KUNSTSILO, set to open to the public in May 2024, has acquired the works Mobility Group / Gagosian ( Red Line)  from the controversial #Product Placement -series
in tandem with the work Escape / Oceanis ( Inner Peace / Post-Traumatic Crossing / 911).
The works will be part of the SKMU collection - Sørlandets Kunstmuseum collection - together with Tangen-Collection in KUNSTSILO.
Per Fronth acquisition into the collection was in 2001 with a collaborative work together with poet Nils Christian Moe Repstad.

First displayed at the succesful exhibition Aerosol / Product Placement at Fineart Oslo in fall 2021 the works generated lots of controversy and criticism, along with accolades , record sales and over 6000 visitors attending the show.
In the Product Placement series Per Fronth introduces his artproject: product placement directly into his artworks, inviting innovative and international companies to pay for placement in the arts, without any artistic restrictions.
The funds invoiced for the project was collected and given to Medicins Sans Frontiers entirely.  The artwork themeselves were sold separately - no strings attached.

KUNSTSILO is a new contemporary art museum converted from in an old grainsilo in the harbour of Kristiansand, Norway.  The museum will host the worlds largest collection of Scandinavian Modernism, from the Tangen-collection, the private art-collection of financier Nicolai Tangen,
today executive director of NBIM, Norges Bank Investment Fund.

Per Fronth : Solar Plexus / Galleri BI-Z / Oct 15 - Nov 6 2022:
After a seven year hiatus Per Fronth opens his first major exhibition Solar Plexus in his hometown Kristiansand at Gallery BI-Z
among huge crowds and strong sales - including museum acquisitions.

Addressing some of the larger questions and issues of our time, Fronth steers his focus onto the consequences of fake news, the impact of global warming, wealth management and product placement
- insisting on creating and producing works in the realm of Photography as Painting.

In his new Kaleidoscope-series, a string of coherent and incoherent imagery make up the foundation for Fronth artistic vision; images seemingly confronting each other but in reality, all part of the visual fabric in modern life.
Fronth collects images of melting glaciers in Svalbard, the rising February winter Suns in Southern Norway archipelago, yachts in the 1 % community of St. Tropez Bay, quarantined passenger ships under the pandemic rule, President Trump greeting General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg in the Oval Office during Fronth visit in May 2018, nuclear power plants in France, windmills in snowcapped Setesdal, Norway
- and children navigating their childhood days by the Norwegian coastline.

In addition the exhibition presents two large new commissions for Andreas Hus, Norways first Children Hospice
Also the aqusition of the work Mobility Group / Gagosian / Red Line by Kunstsilo, the new contemporary museum under construction in Norway opening 2023 is on display.
The exhibition presents new works, both originals and newly printed polymer, etching & drypoint prints from famous Ateljé Ole Larsen in Helsingborg, Sweden.

Per Fronth : BLOOM! Commission / Andreas Hus / Children Hospice / 15 Oct 2022:
Norways brand new and first children hospice, Andreas Hus, will open its doors to children patients and their close relatives in January 2023.
Per Fronth was awarded the commission to make the important artworks in the “ farewell-room” and in the main lobby.

Andreas Hus is a hospice for children with terminal illnesses and its main purpose is to create the best and most rewarding environment for both the children and their loved ones
under the challenging times they are forced to endure together- in an atmosphere of medical competence - and most importantly, of love!

- I am deeply honoured to be the chosen artist to make a commission for a project of this stature, for children whose life and time on earth will be foreshortened by an illness they can’t escape.
I have been extremely lucky in life, 58 years as a globetrotter all over the world, meeting wonderful people everywhere, even in the war-zones of Afghanistan, Lebanon and Libya -
been given years Andrea was never allowed to experience and drink from.

- The commission is built on my new Kaleidoscope-series: A central main image, of a Japanese cherry tree in full bloom, in its sexual prime, radiating the power and lust for life and rebirth,
serves as the foundation for the myriad of images from my own life the past thirty years.
From the mountains in Setesdal and coastlines of Norway, to Xingu Chief in the Amazonian rainforest to soldiers in war-torn Afghanistan, my own daughter with her best friend who endured a colossal medical challenge recently, crossing the Atlantic in a sailboat after Sep 11 in New York, drifting to the beauty of experiencing the ancient sculpture Venus of Milos at the Louvre in Paris - and the mesmerizing face of a young girl in a bubble bath, Andrea, who’s life was cut short by nature itself - all components of a large tableau celebrating life.

- Life is complicated to understand, to get a real grip on sometimes, as it makes its own twist and turns, with complete disregard of justice - yet we must accept Life’s eternal fight with Death,
accept we can still change our destiny and create opportunities of hope.

Per Fronth : Product Placement Series/ Fineart Oslo / Aug 26 - Sep 12 2021:
In his latest exhibition Aerosol / Product Placement Per Fronth introduces Art Product Placement into his own artworks - and creates controversy.
An art project discussing the finance of, exactly, the funding of art projects, Fronth opens up the real-estate of his paintings for paid product placement in contemporary artworks.

- I simply open up part of my paintings for art product placement as a means of securing both, the financing of, and my artistic output, in order to make better, new works in the future.
And I think it can be done in a clever, sublime and intelligent way, both challenging and preserving my artistic integrity.

- I have chosen companies that are innovative, traditional, in transformation, socially engaged, with environmental focus - and a positive attitude towards our common future solutions.
They range from oil and wind related companies like Siem Offshore, to outdoor apparel companies like Norrøna, Møller Mobility Group, the innovative SWIMS - to the french Champagne house, André Clouet. All international brand names, and I charge them for for being part of my artwork.

- In Norway most of arts funding comes from the government making artists too much dependent on applications and stipend-comitees,
not to mention the not so hidden political agendas guidelining and  influencing the arts.  I support funding of the Arts - but I discuss if it changes the DNA of the Arts by its philantrohy.
- With Art Product Placement I question what makes art free, and the freedom of me as an artist.  What is arts value, and what is the value of art.
And I question the connection between Art and Money, and the rivers of cash that fuels the art industry - and the pitfalls of integrity.

The highly successful exhibition, attracting wide audiences, inclusion into important contemporary art collections - and final sales exceeding 700.000 Euros,
also created controversy and received negative critical acclaim from art editors.
Cultural Editor Karin Kristine Blågestad of FVN.no likened Fronths new approach of Art Product Placement to:  the artist as a “ luxury prostitute “
( See article and response below)

Download PDF eCatalogue: Per Fronth: Aerosol / Product Placement

Press Clips: Per Fronth : Aerosol / Product Placement / Fineart Oslo / Aug 26 - Sep 12 2021

NRK / Dax18 / 31. Aug 2021:
Per Fronth discusses Art Product Placement with leader of NBK, Norwegian Visual Artist organisation, Robert Steinum, moderated by NRK anchor Espen Aas.
Segment begins at 32:25 min.

911 / World Trade Center Terror 2001: 20 years commemoration
Per Fronth short story: Terror in Tribeca. Written for newspaper Fædrelandsvennen published on Sep 11 2021.
In the morning of Sep 11 2001 Per Fronth lived and worked as an artist in his neighbourhood Tribeca, New York, - and was suddenly awakened by an unfamiliar sound above his bed and a large explosion shaking his life forever after; American Airlines Flight 11 had just penetrated the northern World Trade Twin Tower at the 90th floor.
A theatre of terror played out with Per Fronth as an eye-witness to the historic events. This is his tale commemorating the events that shaped our world , and his life.
Text written in Norwegian. Photographs by Per Fronth.

PDF: Per Fronth Short story: Terror in Tribeca / FVN / Sep 11 2021

Per Fronth Short story: September 11 2001 / WTC / Tribeca: Terrorens teater / 20 year Marking Sep 11. 2021
Written for newspaper Fædrelandsvennen Sep 11. 2021

Art Magazine KUNST / Oct 2020: Per Fronth Cover : “ Aerosol “& full feature interview
The largest art magazine in the Nordic countries, KUNST, features Per Fronth on the cover with the artwork “ Aerosol” and 11 page spread interview.
Made during the pandemic in the early fall in Fronths atelier, his tempel No 10, the interview put in writing by Editor-in-Chief Lillian Reif.
She dives into the process of being a contemporary artists in todays splintered world - politically , emotionally, philosophically - and artistically.
What role or even medicine can art offer in our current paradoxical lives?

Due to two separate spikes in the Covid 19 pandemic, both at scheduled opening nights at Gallery Fineart / Oslo in November 2020 and Jan 2021,
Per Fronth next major exhibition at Fineart / Oslo have been delayed till August 2021.

Per Fronth will now be the opening act of the 2021 fall season at Gallery Fineart / Oslo
- starting a string of important solo-exhibitions together with international star photographers David Yarrow and Albert Watson.

New opening date: Thursday Aug 26th 2021 / Gallery Fineart / Oslo

Download PDF Magazine KUNST: Per Fronth Cover & Article ( NO)

Galleri Langegården / Bergen / Sep 26th - Oct 18th 2020: 
Aerosol exhibition - major private contemporary art collections acquire Fronth artworks  
Installation views from the exhibition “ Aerosol” in the fall of 2020 at Galleri Langegården in Bergen, Norway - a former aristocratic summer residence dating back to  the 1780s.
Today the property is a center for showcasing contemporary art, international as well as national, bringing forth the latest ideas and currents in thinking and output.
Per Fronth exhibit attracted a large audience, even amid the pandemic, - and important art collections acquired major artwork of Fronth for future display making the show a great success.

Download PDF eCatalogue: Per Fronth “ Aerosol “ Galleri Langegården

Newspaper FVN / July 4th 2020: Corona and the Artist:
Large weekend feature interview with Per Fronth in the magazine God Helg. The ten page reportage made by writer Håvard Karlsen and fotojournalist Jakob b. Buchard focus on the reflections by Per Fronth is his atelier No 10 during the Corona-pandemic and the impact it has had, and continue to have, on his work as a contemporary artist.
Download PDF Feature here

Skigaarden / Hemsedal, Norway: Dec 14th 2019: New Per Fronth Commission unveiled

Skigaarden / Hemsedal, Norway: Dec 14th 2019:
Per Fronth unveils tapestry “ Nightriders / Crystalline “ - his largest textile work till date.
Commissioned by owner Erik Teigen of Skigaarden, Hemsedal and more than two years in the making,
in December 2019 Per Fronth presented the large new artwork “ Nightriders / Crystalline” at a ceremony in the Norwegian mountain resort.
- The central theme of the work draws its inspiration from the old Norwegian - and European folktales delivered by oratory from generation to generation over centuries, Fronth says. The three nightriders, packed up with skis and lights, have set out on their own adventures, they represent the modern and contemporary man in search of self-realisation through danger and joy.

Per Fronth : Sea of Tranquility /Kunstgalleriet / October 2019:

Stavanger, Norway: Sep 10th 2019
” Sea of Tranquility” the latest exhibition by Per Fronth opens at Kunstgalleriet, Stavanger
Saturday Sep 14th.
The new body of works consist of newly produced originals - as well as lithographs made in Paris at Idem, Paris.
Per Fronth will also present brand new released etchings and polymer prints made at premier studio Ateliér Ole Larsen, Helsingborg.
This Fronth´s fifth exhibition in Stavanger , all made i co-operation with Kunstgalleriet; 2003, 2006, 2012, 2016 - and now 2019 having cemented a strong interest of his artistic output and works in the oil-capital of Norway.
The exhibition will stand til Oct 20th 2019.
kunstgalleriet.no

Download PDF: eCatalogue: Per Fronth: Sea of Tranquility / Kunstgalleriet / 2019
Download PDF : PressRelease: Per Fronth: Sea of Tranquility / Kunstgalleriet / 2019
Promotional video: Per Fronth / Sea of Tranquility 1:24 min

Download Mediapack: High Rez images / Released for Media

Nicolines Hus / Kragerø / Norway / Jun 29th - July 11th 2019:
Per Fronth opens new exhibition Night & Day at Nicolines Hus in Kragerø.
Presenting new works, originals paintings and works on paper.

Download eCatalogue here:

Oslo / Nov 1st 2018:
MASI + Fronth: Launching Amarone Costasera 2012 gift box by Per Fronth
The worlds leading producer of Amarone wines, MASI of Veneto, Italy, invited Per Fronth and challenged him to make the gift box for their fantastic vintage of the 2012 Costasera Classico Amarone wine.
Per Fronth was invited to the Serego Alighieri estate in Veneto by the Boscaini family to first-hand be inspired by their winemaking process and the way wine fully is a part of their life.
Family owned and run, MASI Agricola, has been lifted by the Boscaini family since the late 16th century. They are today the leading producer of the Amarone appellation of making wine.
Per Fronths inspiration led to the work titled “ Lucciole ( Firefly ) / Venus Passage. “ which encapsulate the Cosatasera wine inside with its drops of dreams.
The Per Fronth AMArone Costasera wine and gift box will be available for the Norwegian market from Vinmonopolet priced at 379 NOK from Nov 1st 2018.
Vinmonopol article number 774101
#fronthamarone

Press Release MASI + Fronth / Symposium Wines

Systog Dale / Valle / Norway / Oct 27th 2018:
Per Fronth opens new exhibition Setesdal Revisited at Systog Dale in Valle, Setesdal.
Presenting new works, originals paintings and works on paper, the work finds its inspiration in the valley brought to life by the river Otra, an almost 300 km waterway entering the ocean in Kristiansand. Setesdal is a valley with a rich traditional culture, in music, architecture and folklore with linguistic roots going back to the Viking age.. It is also in modern times a valley which produces renewable energy through massive hydropower. On top of the valley in the high mountains the valley host a contemporary ski resort, Hovden, which every winter grows into a mountain urban centre.
Exhibit last till Dec. 9th 2018.

Download eCatalogue here
Systog Dale Gallery website
Opening remarks: Leonhard Jansen, Konservator, Setesdalsmuseet: Per Fronth: Setesdal Revisited

Media: FVN / Oct. 29th 2018: Per Fronths kjærlighet til Setesdal

Horten / Norway / Oct 19th 2018:
Redningsselskapet New HQ aquires large Per Fronth painting.
Redningsselskapet, the Norwegian volunteer ocean SAR organisation, commissioned Per Fronth to create major work for their brand new headquarters in Horten. The triptych work “ Buoyancy / Ritual / Sea of Tranquility / Eclipse “ measures 300 x 120 cm , installed in the boardroom it will be part of a great and important art-collection including works of Sverre Bjertnæs and Bjarne Melgaard.
- The piece addresses current issues of our times and lives, dramatic events take place in the oceans that binds us together yet divides us by wealth as the last years exodus of refugees have informed us. Young children playing in the water becomes suddenly aware of a foreign object, a lifejacket, drifting past their protected childhood days. Above them the Shadow of the Earth moves across the Sea of Tranquility in an Eclipse. Every moment counts for the living. Redningsselskapet knows this more than any - a thousand helping hands at sea, Per Fronth states.

Valle / Sep 15th 2018:
Valle Bibliotek & Kyrkjestove “Sæbyggjen” opens with large Per Fronth commission “ Utveg / Reservoir ( Setesdal).
Valle Sparebank commissioned Per Fronth to make the main artwork for new Valle Bibliotek in Setesdal.
The contemporary new library which also commemorate the works of famous poet and writer Paal Helge Haugen, original a Valle native, was designed by Svensson architects.
The artwork “ Utveg / Reservoir ( Setesdal) depicting a young girl in a traditional Setesdal bunad holding an open book and the same girl in modern clothing focused on her cellphone: The painting address one of rural areas main challenges today: The flux of young woman leaving their villages for higher education in urban areas, only not to return with their new competence because they often do not find relevance in the rural areas the once left.

Oslo / Norway / Sep 26th 2018: Riksteatret commissions Per Fronth backdrop for play.
Filmdirector Erik Poppe turns to theatre and directs: Stones in His Pockets for Riksteatret.
Riksteatret, a travelling affiliate of Norways National Theatre, engaged Per Fronth to make the scene backdrop for the original irish
dark comedy, written by Marie Jones in 1996. Working with director Poppe who initially challenged Per Fronth to make his largest
work yet, the backdrop for the play rewritten into Norwegian and into Norwegian context.
Titled Stein i Lomma the famous actors Hallvard Holmen and Øystein Martinsen ( Vikings / Norsemen)
The play has received great acclaim and will be travelling the entire Norwegian country for scheduled performances ending in Kristiansand Nov 23rd 2018.

Related news articles:

May 27th 2018:    Plnty:    Fronth om Politikk og Poesi
May 26th 2018:    Hamar Dagblad:   Fronth angrep på lykkelandet
May 26th 2018:    Hamar Arbeiderblad:     Direkte fra Det Hvite Hus til Hamar

Hamar / Norway / May 26th 2018:
Hamar Sagbladfabrikk will host Per Fronth exhibition 2018 "Architecture of Evolution", a summer exhibition including the very first presentation in  a new series of works , Monochromes.  
In this series Fronth confronts the very essence, or beginning, of his adventure into the universe of his relationship with photography as an art form.  The series, focusing on  photography´s main component ,the source of light, draws Fronth back to the early days of his encounter with the medium.  These first works, landscape renderings from the valley Setesdal are all made in monochrome colours , much like his first photographs made in a makeshift darkroom in the basement of his home at age 14. 
The exhibition opens on May 26th and runs through Aug 26th 2018.

eCatalogue: Per Fronth / Architecture of Evolution / Hamar Sagbladfabrikk / 2018

Miami / Dec 5th 2017:   
Per Fronth New York gallerist Dillon + Lee exhibits Per Fronth new tapestry Gravity ( Joy) Bubbles / A Man in Full / Trampoline, 212 x 250 cm, at Art Miami 2017.
This is the third time Fronth is part of the world largest art fair through his gallerist  in New York.

Oslo / Nov 10 2017:   
Per Fronth new large work Harmony ( Shadow in the Boy) archipelago moves from exhibition to new home SAS Radisson Blu Caledonien Hotel, KRS, Norway.

Radisson Blu Caledonien Hotel & Glastad Holding AS acquires large new work of Per Fronth for the complete renovation of the hotel scheduled for reopening in June 2018.  
The artwork was part of Fronths successful exhibition Inner Rooms at Galleri Fineart / Tjuvholmen / Oslo November 2017.  
The motif is based on Fronths childhood experiences and the imagery was collected at a popular and  beloved seaside beach, Bertes, close to his birthplace.
The Radisson Blu Caledonian Hotel is an institution for guests visiting the capital of southern Norway, Kristiansand.  Hotel received first guests in 1969.

Magasinet Kunst /  Edition 3 / 2017:  
Interview with Per Fronth from his new atelier NO 10 about Inner Rooms exhibition at Galleri Fineart / Tjuvholmen.
Magazine features large interview with Per Fronth from his new ateliér, NO 10.  Fronth explains the process behind the new works in his latest exhibition Inner Rooms at Galleri Fineart / Tjuvholmen.

Oslo / Oct 2015:  Norwegian Central Bank acquires Per Fronth work Reservoir / Red Birch for contemporary art collection
From Per Fronths exhibition Blue Venia at Galleri Kunstverket in Oslo, Norges Bank / Norwegian Central Bank put into their contemporary art collection Fronths latests print Reservoir / Red Birch.   The oversize print, a polymer etching print, was made at Atelier Larsen in Helsingborg.
Master printer Ole Larsen and his team produced the 200 cm large print in four colors with Per Fronth at a work session in Aug 2015.

Reservoir / Red Birch ( Setesdal) is part of Fronths environmental series;  his focus on Nature as a pristine and delicate refuge for the modern society.  The work makes a deliberate reference to I.C. Dahls famous painting Birk i Storm (1849),  Birch in Storm,  made during  the romantic and nationalistic period in European art history.  Fronth reference is but another tree - the diehard mountain birch surviving everything a winter might deliver of challenges.

Oslo / Norway / Oct 8th 2015 / Galleri Kunstverket: BLUE VENIA
Per Fronth open new graphic works only exhibition Blue Venia at Kunstverket Galleri in Oslo on Thursday Oct 8th.
This is Fronthś first exhibition presenting only works on paper in graphic techniques, drypoint, etching, polymer and lithos. 
Produced in sessions this fall at Atelje Ole Larsen, Helsingborg and in Paris, France, at Idem Paris the works represents a revisit to the exploration of graphic mediums he enjoyed and challenges in New York.

Per Fronth started his career as an artist in New York in the early 90s. He studied printing at the now famous PrintMaking Workshopcreated by masterprinter Bob Blackburn, who also received the MacArthur Fellowship. At PMW Fronth met printer Esteban Chaves, a Yale University Alumni who became his first teacher in photoetchings and the possibilites of the print medium. Later Fronth went on to work with printer Nathan Kanofsky of Arak Kanofsky Studios in New Jersey who produced the series Xingu Chronicles , which became Fronthś breaktrough as an artist, presented at Dillon Gallery in New York in 1998, both controversial and hugely successfull.
The exhibition Blue Venia follows three separate narratives intutively related to Nature and Human Nature.

Norway / Nov 2014:  Per Fronth on cover of KUNST - Scandinavias largest art magazine
The magazine KUNST features a major focus  on the art of Per Fronth in the NOV / DEC 2014 issue.  The 15 page article coincides with Fronths
exhibit REPLIKA at Galleri Fineart / Tjuvholmen.
PDF : Click image for full article