Oda Iselin Sønderland

With intricate and detailed watercolor paintings and wooden carvings, the artist loves to investigate universal themes through a personal perspective. Whatever may exist in this world and life may be carefully and intentionally selected to form an expression of an experience of love and desire, distractions from death or a stare at it right in the eye, the self and the other, the organic and the constructed. From large architectural structures to the tiny realms of the forest ground, she curiously brings together simplified structures alongside chaotic systems. Characters with large eyes seem to be looking as if grasped, entranced and bewildered, at times appearing to be detached from their surroundings and lost in thought. Some have their eyes closed, perhaps drifting away to somewhere else. Certain elements are repeated; cars, plants, windows, openings. Portals between worlds and ideas. Veins and tendrils breaking through cracks in asphalt with the will of life itself. To her, beauty and harmony is of importance, but artist's perspective of beauty include the nasty little flies creeping inside of a graceful waterlily. Sønderland's taste is lead by the activity of wondering. As much as creating an image is inventing an illusion, her work is an attempt at being deeply honest and real, and is always guided by the love of life itself.