Remainder V

Matias Faldbakken’s interest in countercultural expressions and conflict underlies all of his art, whether painting, installation, photography, or video. His works frequently refer to the historical avant-garde, above all the movements that expressed political radicalism through anti-aesthetical imagery. Faldbakken finds his artistic tools in such pop-cultural phenomena as newspapers, magazines, TV, video, and websites, and uses mundane, mass-produced materials such as spray paint, tape, and felt pens. In many of his works, Faldbakken explores linguistic dilemmas and representation, often addressing the extremities of free speech and issues relating to genuine artistic freedom.

Remainder V consists of a tiled wall that shows traces of washed-out spray paint. Linguistic expression, here represented by what remains of the painted colour, has been erased into a mute gesture of negation – wordless goo. We can no longer read the writing on the wall, but the dark vestiges of paint on the tiles convey a youthful rebellion against the world that is more expressive than words could ever be. Faldbakken compares the gesture of rebellion with avant-garde, autonomous art’s rejection of aesthetics. The non-verbal aggression that underpins Remainder V bears witness to the artist’s own struggle to be able to express what he wants.

Faldbakken trained at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design and at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Städelhochschule, in Frankfurt am Main.