OBSCURE SPHERE by Ole Marius Joergensen

Ole Marius Joergensen

Ole Marius Joergensen [b.1976] is a fine art photographer based in the small town of Asker, just outside of Oslo. As a rural Norwegian child of the 1980s, he became fascinated with Steven Spielberg and Stephen Kings views of suburban America and was inspired to create his own narratives about an imaginary place where the individual takes center stage. Using humor and elements of surrealism, Joergensen presents narratives that allow the viewer to create their own endings, as they observe the daily activities of people within nature. Like a filmmaker, he presents scenes meant to be seen together, as a story slowly unfolds.

Through his work, Joergensen examines the changes happening in rural Norway where the land, and the quiet way of living, is slowly fading due to modernization. Like Hopper, he presents ordinary situations infused with a unique narrative that unlocks an unexpected reality that feels both nostalgic yet contemporary. Through carefully staged cinematic photographs, produced in-camera, his muted palette reflects the contemplation found in the country, where traffic and noise is replaced by calm and introspection.

This can be seen in “Vignettes of a Salesman, 2016-18” where he creates an affectionate portrait of a salesman traveling through the country lost in thought. The photographs depict the isolation often experienced moments before or after a business transaction, setting up a storyline that is filled with suspense. Like Arthur Miller’s character Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Joergensen examines the dreams and aspirations of the traveling salesman within the vast Norwegian landscape.

In his last series “All that was Left was a Yellow Duck,” Joergensen references the Norwegian painter Hans Gude, whose depictions of the landscape and its people reflect the realities of rural life.
150 years later, Joergensen wanders the same winding roads and landscapes. It is this silence that the artist examines, as the simple and peaceful rural world is fading in favor of today’s complex
societies that is concerned with instant gratification.

Joergensen studied Film Studies at The Southampton Solent University and graduated from Norwegian Fotofagskole in Trondheim. He is dedicated to his work and finds solitude in working alone in the vast landscapes, as a meditative producer. Since his debut in 2006, he has had several solo exhibitions in Norway, Europe,Asia and the USA. Joergensen’s work can be found in private and public collections in Oslo, Stockholm, London, Madrid, Berlin, Hong Kong and the US.

Obscure Sphere

This monograph is a collection of work by Ole Marius Joergensen The book takes you from 2014 to the present day and shows the artist’s dedication to the rural landscape. In the 9 different series presented, the artist examines the silence of the simple and peaceful rural world fading in favor of today’s complex societies that are concerned with instant gratification.

No Superhero, 2014

The series which is an ode to his childhood hero Superman. The superhero is, in the eyes of Joergensen, the metaphor of courage and humility – a character who has inspired him since childhood and who follows him.

Icy Blondes, 2017
The artists passion for the mysteries and surrealism within film leads him to create narrative series, where he presents well-known characters.
An iconic series where its cinematic images are inspired by Hitchcock’s fascination with Blonds and each photo is a tense and anxious moment just before the storm.

Finding the Red, 2019

The images are subtile in style and soft in the palett. Joergensen is inspired by masters, directors and painters, such as Edward Hopper.
The influence of the American painter Hopper is duly present, where his palette and perspectives are important, but also the melancholy that is depicted in his painting. The realist painter Hopper also painted ladies in utter solitude, like in the “Cape Cod Morning”, where the colour red seemed to accentuate the woman’s longing to break out of her isolation.

All that was Left was a Yellow Duck, 2020-2022
I have the pleasure of working in beautiful and serene landscapes. I present the landscape in present time.
Although the backdrop is the same, we use our nature as playgrounds. In contrast to the past, where survival and living in the brutal rural landscapes could be difficult and tough. The series is inspired by the Norwegian painter Hans Gude’s depictions of this landscapes and its people, as he wandered the same roads and landscapes 150 years ago.

Rewards available

The book : Obscure Sphere

Book + Small print

Original Prints

One original print, value USD 3200, offered at a reduced price of €2500.
Title: Preikestolen (Space Travels 2015-2017)
Pigment Print
Size: 64 x 90 cm
Edition: 1/6

One original print, value USD 6200, offered at a reduced price of €4500.
Title: Future is coming (2014)
Pigment Print
Size: 90 x 125 cm
Edition: 1/4

One original print, value USD 6200, offered at a reduced price of €4500.
Title: Yesterday was a good day (2016-2018)
Pigment Print
Size: 90 x 125 cm
Edition: 1/4

–
Additional prints are sold at original price and increase as the editions are sold.