Rolf Grieg

Ateliér Skåra
utstilling 22. november - 27. desember 2009.
Musikre på åpningen
Ole Martin Huser-Olsen og Hallvard Bjørneboe Sæbø.

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Ole Martin in the garden

Saturday, May 2, 2009 10:13:25 PM

guitar, classical guitar, Scarlatti, Beethoven ...

Ole Martin has been my modell for more than two years, but at the present his studies in Oslo, at Musikkhøgskolen (The Academy og Musical Arts), makes it difficult to make more drawings of him. This is one of the last drawings I made of him, this time outside in garden. He is more relaxed here than in most of the other drawings, in his (then) new cap (I think he inherited it from his grandfather who died a few months earlier, he was then more than ninety years old). Ole Martin is a typical intelectual, so, nobody will be surprised, when I inform that his selected instrument is the classical guitar.

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Sonia looking into the future

Saturday, May 2, 2009 8:33:40 PM

indian, Sonia, Colombia, Latin America ...

This is the last picture I made of Sonia in june 2007.We had only one sitting, and we were never able to finish the drawing. But the drawing is finished as it is, even if she "lost" one eye. As a picure of a mental situation it is perfect (and now she may be angry with me). As an human being it will always be difficult, maybe even impossible, to see yourself as others seee you. When you are young, when you are trying to accept yourself as the being you really are, you are blind to more than half of your own personality. Some people will never be able to find the answer to the question "What am I?". I do think Sonia has found part of the answer, but I also believe that the real answer is not what she believes it to be. Why should it be easier for her to find the solution to her questions about herself than it has been for me to understand what I am. She has to accept that the answer can not be given her before she is at the end of her life.

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Sonia and butterflies

Saturday, May 2, 2009 7:54:58 PM

charcoal drawing, Colombia, Charcoal, butterflies ...

This is one of the first pictures I made of Sonia. As can be clearly seen in the drawig we did not feel reciprocal at ease with each other when I was making the picture. I asked her if she would accept that I put butterflies in the background of the drawing, which she permitted me to do. I choosed a species of blue winged butterflies, common in Colombia, where she was born and lived until she was adopted and brought to Norway one year old. I never asked her wether she liked this drawing, maybe she thinks she is looking too old. She is both - very old and extremely young - and will be so for a long time.

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Sonia, concentrating on a Rubics cube.

Saturday, May 2, 2009 7:05:47 PM

solution, Colombia, Charcoal, rubic ...

This is my favorite drawing of Sonia. Maybe because this is the only I made which shows how young and beautiful she was when I made the drawing. I decided to make her concentrate on the solution of the Rubics cube, maybe it made her angry that she never managed to master the principle in the solution of the problem, but this is not visible in the drawing. My impression is that she looks relaxed and at peace with herself in the drawing I made of her this time. Maybe this was only an illusion. But I like this illusion.
In fact I think she was a little irritated with the fact that she never managed to understanf the principles of solving the problem of the Rubics cube
(which I easily can understand, as I used months to solve the problem myself, each night before going to sleep I used 15 - 20 minutes to try to find the solution, untill I one night saw - there was a solution - yes (!) - only one - two - (?) - more moves - and - (?) - YES !!!!! I HAD SOLVED THE PROBLEM! Satisfaction - .)
Her irritation with the problem is not showing in the drawing. Maybe I am only imagining that she is irritated as she in reality does not care at all. Not at all. I am only visualizing my own frustration from the periode when I was trying to find the solution, while she in reality did not care.

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Sonia, sceptical, looking at me making a drawing of her

Saturday, May 2, 2009 6:06:58 PM

portrait, Sonia, sceptical, charcoal drawing

Sonia was for a period my favorite model. At the present she is studying in Oslo, and I have not had the possibility to make drawings of her for more than a year. I was very proud of myself when I was doing this picture because she fell asleep when I was drawing. I thought it was the ultimate proof of her confidence in me, but she was just too tired to stay awake. In reality she was a bit sceptical of me, which is very easy to see when you look at the drawing, I did not understand this before after one and a half year. I lived in the illusion of a perfect confidence until a friend told me told me
Oh, she does not look as she is enjoying the situation. I am wondering, still, if I have to be proud or not, as a man, maybe I have to keep on to pretend that she in reality trusted me. Whatever, it was a nice experience to be allowed to make drawings of her, wether she felt she could trust me or not.

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