Høstutstillingen 2018 -
National Art Exhibition
I am always happy when I encounter art that as well as being interesting to look at and reflect on, is genuinely entertaining.
Kåre Bulie in D2 magazine
First and foremost, Terje Nicolaisen is a very entertaining artist. Typically, the work of his is among the very few I still can remember from the latest National Art Exhibition. With the title "Untitled (Bad Painter)" he had painted a picture of a shabby, long-haired gentleman, with the irresistible inscription "He was the only bad painter for miles. Artists came to him for advice». I am always happy when I encounter art that as well as being interesting to look at and reflect on, is genuinely entertaining. The art institution's relationship with humor is at best ambivalent. In a milieu with few rules to navigate by and with a corresponding high degree of uncertainty, the majority seems to be more concerned with a so-called serious appearance than a amusing one, and a social and political engaged facade rather than a witty. Although this results in not so few boring works it also suggests that in the history of art seriousness has had better conditions than humor.
