Jan Valentin Saether: Exile

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EXILE

During the last few years, Sæther has repeatedly treated the exile theme in art works in different media.
The "Exile" project is Sæther's most traditional treatment of the theme. Large portraits decipt people suffering from some sort of exile in the masterly figurative style which characterized Sæther's earlier work from the 70s and 80s. The eerie contrast between highly illusionistic or naturalistic portraits and an avstract, two-dimensional and non-contextual background expresses the alienation of these exiled characters (among others Bakhtin, Bunuel and the artist Jan Valentin Sæther himself). The obvious alienation of such naturalistically depicted individual portraits from any context which could afford them some form of spacial or contextual integration is slightly reduced by the fact that these persons stare directly at the viewer, thereby including him in their otherwise isolated existence. The viewer is thereby encouraged to reflect upon the nature of the depicted subject's alienation and lack of contextually integrated identities by enriching the decriptive portraits with his own knowledge of the depicted person's experiences of alienation and exile.

Einar Petterson
Professor of Art History, University of Oslo

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The Exile series will consist of 42 portraits of people who have suffered some sort of exile, e.g. physical, political, religious, cosmic etc. Each painting measures 130 x 106 cm.


Exile: Ali Djabbary	Exile: Mikhail M. Bakhtin	Exile: Jan Valentin Saether	Exile: Aung San Suu Kyi

Exile: Suspended Transition