Opening August 22nd, 3 p.m
Alone in Kyoto
By Morten Langeland
Kozo apprenticed for ten years under Sensei Kaikei. It was the time of the resting warriors. The most important thing was not to become a double. Every morning they soaked the paper in the spring. They had heard stories of rubber trees, but had to harden the sap from the paper mulberry themselves, twisting it into elastic cords to give tension to the clips they used to hang the paper on the line. “All love stories must begin and end at a river,” Kaikei said. Kozo nodded. The water shimmered. Kaikei spoke of tones in the picture. The birds sang in different languages. Unintentional pleasure was the goal. Kozo’s task was to carve the plates; he used the knife like a spoon. Kaikei printed with water-based ink and a brush while humming a song about how love changes and grows stronger as it dries.
When the commissioner—a priest from the neighboring prefecture—came to collect the picture, something stirred inside Kozo. The subject was a standard one: an old heron standing on one leg in the reflection of the water at dusk. The execution was almost a journeyman’s masterpiece. Kozo wrapped the picture in an elaborately calligraphed shipping box. Kaikei said that Kozo had to keep his distance from his feelings, but nevertheless withdrew and let his student decide for himself. Kozo saddled his horse and rode after the priest. At the foot of Mount Inari, he found the priest’s camp. “Your Reverence, I must be allowed to buy the picture back,” Kozo said. The priest was a self-assured tree. He understood that there was money to be made from desperation, yet he could not look past the apprentice’s agitated state. “You may buy half of the picture back,” the priest replied. Kozo could do nothing, but agree and divide the picture in two. When they opened the shipping box, there were two pictures inside, almost identical—one for each of them. They wept and embraced.
Fredrik Værslev (b. 1979, Moss, Norway) is a Norwegian artist whose practice explores the possibilities of painting through abstraction, everyday imagery, and an emphasis on process. He lives and works in Norway. His work often moves between representation and abstraction, drawing on architecture, landscape, and familiar domestic motifs.
Værslev has exhibited internationally at institutions including Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; Haugar Kunstmuseum, Tønsberg; Bergen Kunsthall; Kunsthal Aarhus; Bonner Kunstverein; Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen; Le Consortium, Dijon; FRAC Bretagne, Rennes; The Power Station, Dallas; and, most recently, the Neubauer Collegium in Chicago. His work has also been shown at Fondazione Prada in Venice and is held in collections including the Centre Pompidou, Moderna Museet, and Nasjonalmuseet.
The exhibition is supported by the Norwegian Arts Council, the Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo, the Sasakawa Foundation and the Bergen Municipality.