Exhibitions

Complete this work which I began

“Dag Ronny Pettersen is an acclaimed Norwegian artist whose career spans 35 years. Art collectors across Scandinavia speak warmly of his original and distinctive paintings. His technique and his use of colour fascinate, but so does the way he creates high skies, a singular light, endless horizons and a sense of stillness and presence. Art that, if one is willing to take the time, gives the viewer room for a personal journey and an inner dialogue.

Dag Ronny has chosen to live a secluded life. He is not on social media, and he readily declines exhibitions and events that for one reason or another do not feel right to him. His task as an artist is to explore painting itself. His aim is to offer a small glimpse of the presence that every moment holds, moments which together perhaps make up eternity…”

"Here in no man's land I remember something, about the beauty and vulnerability of humankind. I feel a presence, and a love, that I cannot explain..."

Dag Ronny Pettersen

So nice that one of my favourite artists, Raymond Mosken, came by while we were hanging the exhibition!

An arts and culture centre that was named Sweden's cultural meeting place of the year in 2022, and that in a short time has established itself as one of the most important venues for art and culture.

It was a really lovely weekend at Blå Hallen, Höganes. Nice people, and paintings that have found new owners...

"I am trembling and I am afraid"

Art is often about personal experiences, reworked by the artist into something others can recognise themselves in. For me it is the exact opposite: in my paintings I try not to depict anything personal. A great deal in my life has been problematic and difficult. Out of the need to free myself from this, I have created "Pictures from No Man's Land". It became a place where I could be at peace. An abstracted landscape, where I turned my back on everything I no longer wanted, or was no longer able, to relate to. Likewise with "Schnittketriptykhonene", the Schnittke triptychs: a tribute to a wonderful composer whose music does exactly the same for me, taking me to other places where I can experience harmony within chaos, beyond the material world I am a part of. In addition there is the presence of people in the paintings, the healing that can be found in another person's eyes. Jesus Christ on the cross, "I am trembling and I am afraid", is always just as relevant. Whether or not one calls oneself a believer, for me it is first and foremost a symbol of sacrifice, hope and salvation. The mysteries and possibilities of the infinite, beyond our earthly life. Whoever you are, I believe art can offer a breathing space. Accompany you on your very own journey, to the places you need, so that life becomes easier to cope with. In times like the ones we live in, this is perhaps more important than it has been for a long time. Faith, hope and love mean a great deal to all of us; without them we do not stand a chance. Art can give us all of this, again and again, if only we take the time. Show us the way, so that perhaps we can also find our way to others...

A real pleasure to take part in gallery BI-Z's 60th anniversary exhibition, 2022

Photo: Raymond Mosken.

"Freedom in a time of limitation"

Throughout his career as an artist, Dag Ronny Pettersen has taken nature as his starting point. Not only through the abstracted landscapes he creates in his paintings, «Pictures from No Man's Land», but also by living close to the nature he depicts. This is an expression the artist has worked with for almost twenty years, and one he keeps returning to. His fascination with the timeless and the placeless is something he never tires of exploring. All the paintings contain a horizon, the sky and the place where one stands. The variation in colour, light and expression creates entirely different moods. For the artist it is important to remove as many recognisable elements as possible, while all the small details come through. The more time the viewer spends with a painting, the more there is to see. The motifs are contemplative, almost meditative. What we see may just as well be inner landscapes and abstract surfaces as actual landscapes. Everything is filled with an expectant presence. Something quiet, yet at the same time magnificent. The artist wants each painting to become a unique «object», one that opens a new space, creates resonance and gives the viewer calm, contemplation and joy in its aesthetics.

Jon Otterbeck, gallerist

In the Reality of Imagination

«Throughout his career as an artist, Dag Ronny Pettersen has taken nature as his starting point. Not only through «Pictures from No Man's Land», a theme he has returned to over many years, but also through a life lived very close to the nature he depicts. Is his art a portent, a warning that we long ago set off in the wrong direction? Is it an expression of the idea that aesthetics and harmony can be powerful forces in our vulnerable world? Can art, and not least the image, which has accompanied humankind since the dawn of time, make a difference? In his paintings I see the warning, but also a hope. It is not too late as long as art is still being made and we have the chance to experience it. In the immersion that art offers lie great possibilities. Not least in a «no man's land» open to all who are willing to see.»

Sten Torstensson, founder of Dalsland Art Museum, Sweden

The Cloud of Unknowing

Dag Ronny Pettersen has always gone his own way. That has also made him one of the most important painters of our time. The no man's land in his paintings is cleansed of trivialities, but in return they open us up to other, richer experiences."

Jon Otterbeck, Jeløy, 2018

Dag Ronny Pettersen's work is very much about presence.

About art as a place of rest, for the artist and the viewer alike – and at the same time a way of understanding our existence and our world as it is today.

He has often, and in many contexts, been praised for his interpretation of the great landscape. He himself says the paintings are a tribute to the earth and to the sky, and to the horizon, which stands for hope and the future.

It is a pleasure to show Dag Ronny Pettersen again!

Cecilie Solstad, gallerist