MAGNE FURUHOLMEN - Now the pictures count most (1997)

Date:  November 23, 1997, Source:  'Aftenposten' (Morning Edition), Page: 57
Area:  Norway     Ardent rhythms and soft harmonies on the walls in Gallery Brandstrup in Moss.  It was there that pictorial artist Magne Furuholmen opened his 19th one-man show yesterday.   Furuholmen was composer and creative musician in the band, a-ha, for 13 years, until 1993.  He doesn't say the band could not get together again, but has no concrete plans for this.  Now it is art that counts.  It is for this he is using all his energy and concentration.

"For now, I am a musician only as a hobby," he says. 
Furuholmen exhibits in the Gallery Brandstrup glass paintings and so-called monotypes - a combination of etching and painting.  The exhibition is called, 'In Concert.'  It is a result of a cooperation between several craftsmen; in addition to the artist, a Danish glass master and a printer stand behind the sparkling glass and copper plates.

"What does music mean to you as a visual artist?"  

"A lot.  Dynamism, rhythm, mood, harmonies  - we use the same words when we talk of both art forms.  And both speak to the senses," says Furuholmen. 
He adds that the musical instrument also creates pictures.  Music and pictorial art enrich each other.  He can absent himself for long periods from one or the other of these forms of artistic expression, but he will come to miss them and must then immerse himself, for example, in music again.

  Without Commotion

"In the tension between improvisation and discipline, which is typical for jazz, I find inspiration," he says.

  He wanders around at the opening among friends and celebrities - tall, blond, and a little shy amid the flowers, flash bulbs, and congratulations.  Could be that he is reminded of the uproar and chaos from past concerts.   

"I enjoy making something without its awakening an uproar.  Color and form which speaks its own, quiet language to one person at a time," he says.  He adds that his past as a pop idol has been both a help and a hindrance.  The attention that many artists dream of is not a problem for him.  But it hasn't always been easy, either, to be taken seriously in this new medium.  

"To make pictures is not new for me.  I have drawn and painted at the same time I have made music since I was five years old.  But it was during my teenage years that music took the upper hand."

The Right Way  

As a visual artist, Magne Furuholmen is self-taught.  

"In the same way as with music, I learn through conversations and discussions with other artists.  There are so many different ways to learn.  The school room doesn't fit everyone," he states matter-of-factly.  

He received corroboration that the trade thinks he has done the right thing in 1996, when he was awarded the jury's prize for best grafic work at the State's Fall Exhibition.  The State's Remuneration Stipend in 1997 also afforded him self-confidence.  

In March of next year Magne Furuholmen will assume a teaching position.  It will happen in Singapore, where he is invited to lead workshops at the city's Art Academy.  He will also hold an exhibit at  the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.  The same month, he will open an exhibition at the Norwegian Grafic Artists' Gallery in Oslo.  

Caption:  MUSIC AS A HOBBY: Magne Furuholmen concentrates on visual art, here at an exhibition opening at Gallery Brandstrup.  Music is now just a hobby.

LAYER UPON LAYER:  Glass paintings are constructed of broken glass that is layered many times over.  At the exhibition, they are mounted on the walls and artificially illuminated.

Translation: Ingerid White