KJELL ERIK KILLI-OLSEN  
Stolen med den brukne foten

8 NOVEMBER – 14 DECEMBER

GSA Gallery is proud to present Kjell Erik Killi-Olsen’s first exhibition with the gallery.

Kjell Erik Killi-Olsen’s artistry is loud, powerful, and brimming with expressive energy. His creations, whether paintings or sculptures, carry a distinctive sharpness – angular and pointed figures, as if each line and form is cut to pierce into the viewer’s consciousness. It’s not just art for art’s sake – every piece wants to tell a story, to carry a narrative that is as much visual as it is emotional.

Killi-Olsen’s sculptures portrays distorted figures that blend human and animal expressions. In a unique and surprising way, he unites the grotesque and unsettling with beauty, vulnerability, and humor. His work blurs the boundaries between sexuality and gender, challenging our perceptions of these concepts.

A milestone in his career came in 1989, when he represented Norway at the prestigious São Paulo Biennale. There, he exhibited “The Night of the Salamander,” a work consisting of 72 powerful sculptures. The piece immediately garnered attention and was purchased by Sparebank1. It was born out of a concern for ecological issues and an awareness of humanity’s responsibility toward nature. Inspired by a journey through Brazil’s deforested lands, where he saw forests reduced to black, dead trunks, he incorporated these dark, scarred forms into his sculptures. The black trunks became symbols of nature’s wounds and humanity’s impact on its surroundings, a form that is recurring in many of his sculptures – narrow, sharp structures or long, tense legs and pointed edges.

Kjell Erik Killi-Olsen has, through his distinctive style and strong narrative, established himself as a central figure in contemporary art. His works live and breathe – they speak to the viewer, not just through their physical presence but through the stories and emotions they convey.

Kjell Erik Killi-Olsen, born in 1952 in Trondheim, Norway. After living for several years in France, he now resides and works in Trondheim, Norway. He is a Norwegian artist who received his education in both Norway and Poland. He studied at the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo from 1979 to 1983, the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland from 1978 to 1979, the Norwegian School of Education in Oslo from 1975 to 1978, and the Trondheim Art School in Norway from 1973 to 1975. Over the decades, Killi-Olsen has had an impressive number of solo exhibitions in galleries and museums both in Norway and internationally. His work has been exhibited in countries such as France, Brazil, Poland, and Sweden. In 1986, he exhibited at the Venice Biennale.