HEW LOCKE/FREDRIK RADDUM/MARIA RUBINKE/KJARTAN SLETTEMARK
Haugar Art Museum 13 February–2 May 2010

Catalogue design by Halvor Bodin.

In recent years, the contemporary art world has shown a renewed interest in children’s toys, both as subject matter and a mode of expression. The exhibition HOLY TOY is curated by Haugar’s Tone Lyngstad Nyaas and has as its theme the use of toys, as interpreted by four unique artists. These artists approach the theme in a playful and often humorous way. However, references in their work also clearly reveal links to various topical social issues.

Kjartan Slettemark (1932–2008) is the frontrunner of the group and a leading figure when it comes to incorporating toys as ready-mades into art. London-based Hew Locke (b. 1959), who is showing his work in a Nordic country for the first time, is similar to Slettemark in that he applies a carnival-like mode of expression to his large-scale relief portraits, using incisive wit to train the spotlight on certain deep-rooted and oppressive social mechanisms.

Danish-born Maria Rubinke’s (1985) small porcelain figures are reminiscent of the illogical compositions of surrealism, transforming the character of what are traditionally charming and passive objects into expressions of more taboo feelings that oscillate between desire and sadism.

Fredrik Raddum (b. 1973) also plays with cartoons and mass media clichés in his composite objects, where the apparent naivety of the design accentuates the existential theme. For this exhibition, he has produced a major new work that has a child’s slide set up amidst the wreckage of a crashed aircraft.

The original Haugar symbol is designed by Walter Grønli. Adjusted and framed by Halvor Bodin in 2006.