Mattias Härenstam

b. 1971, Gothenburg

Mattias Härenstam works with woodcuts, sculpture and film. His work often revolves around the contrast between an orderly surface and a chaotic interior, be it in on the level of the individual or of society. The opposites life–death is also a recurring theme. The woodcut series Abendland consists of intimate and slightly surreal self-portraits. In the images, we meet an elusive figure; vulnerable yet threatening; sometimes victim, sometimes perpetrator. The person portrayed is caught in sharp light, reminiscent of snapshots from a film.

Mattias Härenstam was born in 1971 in Gothenburg, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bergen and lives and works in Oslo. Härenstam has exhibited both in and outside of Norway and has been nominated for the Lorck Schives Art Prize, the Amanda Prize, the Art Critics Prize and The Queen Sonia Print Award. His works have been purchased by, among others, the Norwegian National Museum and Stavanger Art Museum.