Island Studio

Our relationship with nature is a central motif in the artistic work of Andreas Siqueland. Island studio is an art project conceived for the island of Hjertøya in the Romsdal Fjord. During the weeks the artist lives on the island, he works works on a large painting installation that will cover all of the four walls inside a newly-built studio. Afterwards the studio will be taken down, but it can later be set up and used again in other places.

In recent years Siqueland has worked on large painting installations. A recurring theme in these works is the ways in which the process of painting is modulated by different geographical sites. He has painted in temporary outdoor studios where the paintings cover the interior walls, thus forming a space into which the viewer can step. The studio on Hjertøya has an area of appr. 24 square metres and has the same format as an outdoor studio built at the farm where the artist lives in Hadeland.

The German artist Kurt Schwitters lived and worked for periods on Hjertøya in the 1930s. In his home town of Hanover he built his first Merzbau, with various forms built in among other materials white plaster. On Hjertøya he painted a lot outside and built a new Merzbau construction inside a small stone cottage which was both his studio and his home. The remains of the interior of the Merz cottage are exhibited in the Romsdal Museum in Molde.