Fredrik Værslev: Reality Bites

Alberto Salvadori, Caroline Soyez-Petithomme, eds.
Texts by Matias Faldbakken, Alberto Salvadori, Josh Smith, Caroline Soyez-Petithomme


“If you look closely at the reproductions of Fredrik Værslev’s work and at the installation views [included in this book], you cannot but notice that there is something decidedly strange and funny about them. Those things that would be perceived in other photographs of the same genre as imperfections or parasitical intrusions turn into an affirmation and a comical form of repetition. […] Even if we had supposed that what we are looking at is essentially conceptual abstraction, by the time we come to the last page of this book we are obliged to admit that Fredrik Værslev’s approach is in fact rather incongruous. His pictorial compositions seem to be porous to their surroundings. This aspect of the work takes full advantage of the condensed effect offered by the publication’s format which, in contrast to the exhibitions themselves, necessarily offers only partial views of the work, which is dispersed across various places and moments. […] In many of the photographs, the paintings are obstructed by elements as extrinsic as they are surprising, for example, dogs, or a man dressed only in his underwear. All of this makes clear that, much as Fredrik Værslev may insist that he is only a painter, there is considerably more going on in his practice, both in this book and beyond. – Caroline Soyez-Petithomme

Published in conjunction with the exhibitions “Querelle of Brest” (Passerelle Centre d’art contemporain, Brest, 2015) and “Inner Beauty” (Museo Marino Marini, Florence, 2015), Reality Bites is the first monograph dedicated to the work of Fredrik Værslev (b. 1979, Norway), analyzed through rich visual content and texts by Matias Faldbakken, Alberto Salvadori and Caroline Soyez-Petithomme, as well as a conversation between the artist and Josh Smith.