ONS artist 2010

We are proud to introduce our ONS 2010 artist.

Roald Kyllingstad (b. 1942) lives in Stavanger, Norway

Kyllingstad made his debut in 1967 with the painting Påske (Easter), an abstract work in the style of its time. The painting was acquired by the Norwegian National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design from the Western Norwegian Annual Art Exhibition. During his years at the academy Kyllingstad cultivated his own variant of photorealism, characterised by developing elements of style in his painting associated with a formalistic expression to a much greater degree than is usual within the photorealism movement. 

By means of several solo exhibitions, Kyllingstad established himself as a distinct and independent voice in contemporary art. In their form, Kyllingstad’s pictures still retain a close relationship with the formalism from which his art is sourced, combined with associations linked equally strongly with the cubism of Picasso and Braques as with the artistic movement that has come to be known as photorealism.

Extract from a book about the artist Roald Kyllingstad by Øivind Storm Bjerke, Professor in Art History at the University of Oslo.

Works in pastel which shatter the observer’s simple preconceptions and lead us beyond realism. Our first impression continues to be hyper-realistic: When you enter Roald Kyllingstad’s exhibition of pastels at the Galleri Dobloug, the encounter with his meticulously executed details and striking effects almost takes your breath away. His use of the pastel pencil is here so highly refined that it has no equal in contemporary Norwegian art.
The exhibition: Optical illusions easy on the eye: Extract from a review by the art critic
Trond Borgen, in the newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad, 30 March 2004.

Roald Kyllingstad will have a solo exhibition in Stavanger in connection with the ONS Festival 2010.



Monolitt, by Roald Kyllingstad