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Although I have been to Oslo before, I didn’t recognise anything today. It all looks completely different. Mind you, we did visit almost 25 years ago and it could have changed, I guess. Actually, I am known for forgetting places I’ve visited though not so much for remembering them. Anyway, let’s just say that this trip feels like a first time to me.
I woke up early, went back to sleep then woke up at a more reasonable hour ready to hit the mean streets of Oslo. Of course, there is no coffee in the room, so I headed up the road for a café I’d spotted last night and, apart from the stupid cups, the brew was marvellous. I may have had an apple and almond bun too which, if I did, was delicious.
In typical Gaz Fashion, I thought I’d discovered a delightful independent café, only to discover another one of the same name, later in the day down by the harbour. It’s Fabrique all over again.
But the coffee, as I said, was very good. Perfectly sustained, I then had a delightfully slow walk down to the harbour. Slow because the National Museum didn’t open until 10am. Besides, I do love seeing a boat or ten.
As can be seen from the photo above, the weather was particularly gloomy though not really wet. I think it rained in the night, but it had stopped by the time I left the hotel. Of course, it started being a bit drizzly later but Mirinda forced me to pack a raincoat, which I wore today, so I was fine.
Eventually, I went and visited the exhibition that I came here for in the first place.
It was back in January when I heard about the Deviant Ornaments exhibition being held at the National Museum in Oslo. It is due to finish on March 15 and, fortunately, this week before closing, I was available and gout free enough to come and see it.
Now, I realise that at least one of my regular readers isn’t that keen on my ‘essays’ on art so I’ll save anything too intense for my other blog (Art and Quirky Stories) but, can I just say how much I enjoyed this exhibition. It examines the figurative alongside the decorative in queer Muslim works.
Some beautiful, some quite bizarre, a lot of it surprising. It wasn’t a big exhibition but what there was, was generally very surprising. Who da thunk, for instance, that there’d be a statue featuring two women, facing each other, one with a dildo being used like an arrow in a bow, would be there?
However, my favourite was this tiny enameled water cup.
So delicate and so beautiful.
The most surprising thing about the museum was the number of kids in, I presume, school groups, wandering around. I’m used to sharing museum spaces with school kids but not in the quantity that I saw this morning. I do wonder what they thought of the exhibition.
Having satisfied the reason why I was in Oslo in the first place, I wandered around the rest of the first floor of the museum for a bit before heading to the café for some raw beef and an apple juice. Both were splendid and required a tram back to the hotel for a bit of a rest.
After a suitable break to rest my weary feet, I headed out to visit the Astrup Fearnley Museet.
And what an amazing building! It sits on the end of Tjuvholmen, jutting out into the fjord, all glass and wood. Beautiful. And inside, an amazing collection of artworks. To be fair, it’s all modern art, the kind my wife wouldn’t really enjoy.
Except maybe the unicorn in the blue room. I think she would enjoy that. Mind you, it is tricky to find, but a great reward awaits you when you step through the non-descript, white, automatic oval doors.
But the little unicorn was not my favourite piece at the Astrup Fearnley. No, while it was amazing and the room quite gentle and calm, I really preferred the work of Nicole Eisenman.
Firstly there is her ginormous statue called Perpetual Motion, stuck to the floor, mid-stride, by a piece of pink bubble gum. It greets you as soon as you walk in to the first gallery space. It made me laugh and wonder at the futility of endless, pointless work.
But, while I loved Perpetual Motion, my favourite was this painting:
It’s a huge painting and, apparently, it’s about falling in love unexpectedly. I particularly like the detail of her shoes falling off.
Anyway, pretty soon, my first arty day was over, and I headed back to the hotel catching, of course, another tram. There is, conveniently, a tram stop just outside my hotel. (I felt just like Birgitta.) And the trams are nice and regular. I do love a tram.
And that was my first Oslo Day. Tomorrow, Munch and, maybe, the Artists’ House.
