Galerie Maria Wettergren is delighted to inform you of Hanne Friis’ major museum solo show, Circulation, currently at the Vigeland Museum through 22 January 2023. In the exhibition, Friis shows a series of new works that relate both visually and thematically to Gustav Vigeland and the Vigeland Museum, challenging herself and the viewer in using synthetic materials such as latex, skai and vinyl – plastic materials which for many have negative connotations and which are often associated with something cheap and simple. The works are made with the rooms in which they will be exhibited in mind, and Friis relates to Vigeland by playing off materials and colours against his sculptures; either in that they resemble bronze, plaster and stone, or in that they function as a contrast to his sculptures, such as for example with the use of the colour cyan.

The abstract forms in Hanne Friis’s works have references to both bodily processes and the cycles of nature. She herself has stated that throughout her career she has worked with themes related to how we humans are connected to nature, and how we as nature are in constant change, which ultimately leads us to death. Life and death are connected. These are themes that are also central to Gustav Vigeland’s art.

HANNE FRIIS
The Mountain, 2022
Skai, hand stitched, steel
96 x 138 x 96 cm
Unique piece

HANNE FRIIS
The Sky is the Limit, 2022
Plastic, hand stitched
270 x 100 x 50 cm
Unique piece

HANNE FRIIS
Black Circle, 2021-22
Vinyl, hand stitch, steel pipe
150 x 110 x 60 cm
Unique piece

Left:                                                                    Right:
HANNE FRIIS                                                    HANNE FRIIS
Consolation, 2022                                           Small Mountain, 2022
Skai, hand stitched.                                         Skai, hand stitched, steel
27 x 42 x 43 cm                                                  130 x 40 x 40 cm
Unique piece                                                     Unique piece

HANNE FRIIS
To Hell, Hell, 2022
Skai, hand stitched, steel
120 x 53 x 48 cm
Unique piece

HANNE FRIIS
Impulse (cyan), 2021-22
Vinyl, hand stitched, steel
74  x 93 x 78 cm
Unique piece

HANNE FRIIS
Phantom, 2021
Latex, hand stitched, steel pipe
208 x 90 x 54 cm
Unique piece

Left:                                                                    Right:
HANNE FRIIS                                                    HANNE FRIIS
Metallic Crater, 2022                                      Dance, 2022
Skai, hand stitched, steel                               Imitation leather, hand stitched, steel
79 x 120 x 95 cm                                               198 x 50 x 30 cm
Unique piece                                                     Unique piece

HANNE FRIIS
La Vague, 2020-22
Imitation leather, hand stitched, steel
98 x 78 x 75 cm
Unique piece

HANNE FRIIS
Flood, 2020-22
Imitation leather, hand stitched, steel
72 x 80 x 110 cm
Unique piece

Photo credits: Øystein Thorvaldsen. © Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Maria Wettergren