For Kunstnernes Hus, Ekblad conceived a show that includes highlights from her most recent production. The exhibition presents a comprehensive installation of new paintings including many institutional loans, as well as a substantial series of sculptural works produced for the occasion. A monumental painted bronze sculpture, which is the first of its kind by the artist, premiers outdoors, placed on Kunstnernes Hus’ lawn, and will be a polychromatic landmark in the urban landscape of Oslo until the end of the year.

The title of the exhibition, GIRL FIRES UP STOVE, refers to Edvard Munch’s painting of the same name (Pike lægger i ovnen, 1883). It depicts a maid in front of a classical 19th century iron stove. This motif inspired Ekblad to make a series of sculptures for the ‘Autumn’ skylight hall of Kunstnernes Hus. In Norway, cast iron stoves used to be a life necessity. But they were also used as an effective way of democratizing certain imagery. Traditional stoves had mythical, religious or royal motifs cast onto their sides and these images were transported into ordinary people’s homes. Ida Ekblad uses the Norwegian cast iron stoves’ pictorial function as a threshold for letting us into her own pictorial universe.

The slim black iron objects have different heights but each of their chimneys are stretching up towards the tall glass ceiling. The sculptures are presented in a serial and minimalistic setup in which these utility objects may seem like abstractions of themselves. However, a closer look at the sculptures reveals elaborated relief plates, feet and pipes with drawings and mystical phrases such as “STRANGE FREEDOMS SHALL BE SOUGHT”. These artist designs catapult the viewer into Ekblad’s universe in which the poetry of the everyday turns into the “Extra Extra” overload that characterizes her work.

In the opposite room, the so-called ‘Spring’ skylight hall, it becomes clear that Ida Ekblad ‘fires up’ the space in another way. A detonation of colors and shapes electrifies the eye. As the artist said about her work “the futurism of it all is often found in the rear-view mirror.” Hence, Ekblad does not only “shoplift” her own painterly archive by sampling patterns and motifs to assemble them into new compositions – or even three-dimensional works like the 6-meter-high painted bronze sculpture outdoors – but she also uses extensive source material for her work. Besides cultural historical objects and historical painting, her inspiration includes textiles, surrealism, manga culture, pop art, typography, abstract expressionism, folk art, graffiti and record covers. All of these influences are transformed in this room into a painterly kaleidoscope. Presented in a salon style hanging that covers nearly every centimeter of the walls, the room turns into a holistic experience.

Kunstnernes Hus