Petter Buhagen
Born in Trondheim, Norway, 1983
Lives and works in Oslo, Norway

Contact
(0047) 95 94 83 90
contact@petterbuhagen.com
www.petterbuhagen.com

Education
2006 - 2008 MA Fine Art, Oslo National Academy of the Arts
2003 - 2006 BA (hons) Fine Art, The Arts Institute at Bournemouth

Selected Exhibitions
2008 "Take Off" with Sisyfos Minigolfklubb, Galleri Brandstrup, Oslo
2008 "In spe - unge kunstnere" Galleri Trafo, Asker
2008 "Avgangsutstillingen 2008", Stenersenmuseet, Oslo
2008 "+ Minus", New Spaces, Trondheim
2007 "Self-Titled", Galleri 21:25, Oslo
2007 "Sisyfos Minihelvete", with Sisyfos Minigolfklubb, Arena Vestfossen
2007 "Bindestrek", GAD, Oslo
2007 "Varsko! (V!2)", Verkstedhallen, Trondheim
2007 "Trøndelagsutstillingen", Trøndelag Senter for Samtidskunst, Trondheim
2006 "Dirty Practice", Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London
2006 "P is for POW", The Foundry, London
2005 "Always Let Me Go", Anatomi Bygget, Oslo
2005 "Landart Sigdal", outdoor exhibition, Eggedal
2005 "Seven Miles of Imported Sand", outdoor exhibition, Bournemouth, UK
2003 "A Puzzle for a Curious Girl", AIB Gallery, Poole, UK

Related Activities
2008 Design and print of t-shirts sold at "One for the Books" at Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo
2008 Curating and organizing the exhibition "Kjeft'a! presenterer..." with Kjefta.org
2008 Design and silk screen print of t-shirts for Sisyfos Minigolfklubb
2008 Drawing and poster design for Pøbelrock 2008
2008 Cover art/design for 12" vinyl record "Pønkpopulistisk Propaganda" by Vi gruer oss
2008 Design and silk screen print of t-shirts, stickers and record sleeves for Vi gruer oss
2007 Design and silk screen print of poster for "Open Academy" at The Arts Academy
2007 - Writer and contributor for the Norwegian cultural blog www.kjefta.org
2007 Mural painting, Gjøvik town centre
2007 Mural painting, By:larm, Trondheim
2006 40 drawings and 40 silk screen prints for the magazine "Stakitt"
2006 Logo for the band Desperado
2006 Live mural painting at Storåsfestivalen
2005 Cover art/design for the 10" vinyl record "Splitt" by Vi gruer oss/Antikontråll
2005 Responsible for the art at Storås festivalen
2004 Cover art/design for the 7" vinyl record "Kjell Magne Bondesvik" by Vi gruer oss
2004 Mural painting at UFFA, Trondheim
2003 - 2007 Organization, design and webmaster of the website www.uberskychannel.com

On the Computer
text by Andreas Schlaegel

The everyday work on the computer has revolutionized many aspects of life, but the most significant effect is on forms and channels of communication. In a very abbreviated reading, the paintings of Petter Buhagen, whether applied directly on walls, canvas or paper, formulate, often with a great deal of sarcasm or irony, a criticism of this development, emphasizing the robotic redundancy of internet and advertisement culture and digital communication in general.

“The error is an aspect of my work.” Petter Buhagen told me, when in an instance of online trompe l‘oeil I mistook a painting of an error message for the real thing. The Confucian proverb that “mistakes are merely one step en route to improvement” may be falling short for what these paintings aspire to. The emptiness of the digital age is represented by the blandness of the graphic design structuring the communication culture with obscure systems and frameworks that signify transparency, without delivering it. But Buhagen doesn‘t resolve to painting as a personal and intimate expression, in a nod to conceptualist artistic strategies he circumnavigates any traditional subjectivism of art by employing the DIY, fact-making tactics of graffiti or street art, thereby shifting his focus towards a criticism not only of the quality of signs but also of that of language. This is most explicit in recent works, like “Jeg ser”, a casually executed painting of a pop-up window, like the ones that annoy the internet-surfer, usually punching the viewer in the face with seedy adverts or pornography. Here it surprisingly displays three lines from a famous poem by early modernist Norwegian lyricist Sigbjørn Obstfelder, carrying his suggestive and existentialist vision into a new surrounding:

I see, I see...
I must have ended up on the wrong planet!
It is so strange here...

One wall painting, a framed light grey grid of checkers on a whitened brick wall reads: “This wallpainting contains no information”, and in the bottom, where the viewer expects the signature, it says: “100%” and “P. Buhagen”, referring to file name and loading status.  Message and form are instantly recognizable for users of common computer programs as a familiar paradox, not only for computer users: a sign signifying it‘s lack of content as such signifies a problem that is probably bigger than originally expected. Thereby I would argue that this artist‘s tragicomical works aim beyond a critique of the concepts and functions of digital channels of communication, and observe the human condition that produced this black box that can make things very simple - and virtually impossible.