Eline Mugaas is one of seven photographers whose work is presented on the portal Norway - the official site. The photographs have been selected by Preus Museum, Norway's national photography museum. Fragments of a total of 40 photographs are shown in the top field of the portal. If you click on these pictures you will get up information on the photographer and his or her photographs that are shown elsewhere on the portal. The project gives Norwegian photographers an opportunity to show their work to a wide audience all over the world.
Biography:
Eline Mugaas was born in Oslo in 1969. She studied at Ramapo College, New Jersey, and Cooper Union (BFA93), New York, USA. She is currently living in Oslo, and represents
Galleri Riis
Mohen-gården
Filipstadveien 5
0250 Oslo
post@galleririis.com
Eline Mugaas says the following about her art:
“Since I moved back to Oslo in 2000, after 12 years in New York City, I have been trying to come to terms with the landscape I grew up in. As a child I saw Oslo as an urban space with tall buildings, noise and the exciting hustle and bustle of a big city. Returning from New York, I saw the city with new eyes.
Our Norwegian identity is closely linked to the natural landscape. In the years prior to the dissolution of the union with Sweden, Norwegian artists explored a romantic view of the Norwegian landscape. Their intention was both to help us see our harsh land as beautiful and to show how different we were from the more continental and culturally sophisticated Swedes.
Discussions on increasing the building mass in Oslo have been heated. There has been a shortage of space, but yet there has been an unwillingness to extend the height of buildings beyond four stories, which gives the city its provincial appearance.
Puzzled by this romantic yearning for the village and fear of the city, I decided to investigate the manmade landscape as I would a natural landscape, with the same pathos and eye for grandness and beauty. I have been walking through the city looking at the buildings and the squares, as I would a mountain landscape. I chose to shoot from late October to March, the months when the people of Oslo complain most about the city’s appearance due to the lack of greenery, and the images run askew of the typically picturesque.
The four photographs chosen to be shown here are from 2004. The first three were shown in a group of photographs under the title Ultima Thule, and the fourth was shown with a group called a flat depiction of life.”
Untitled (Minus 4) 2004
Untitled (fireworks) 2004
Untitled (Space-world) 2004
Untitled (Camping) 2004
Minus 4 (2004)
Sunset