Solo exhibition Røed Gallery, Moss, Norway

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