Idun Baltzersen

Idun Baltzersen (born 1987 in Trondheim, Norway) lives and works in Stockholm. Her practice spans monumental and spatial boundaries, encompassing a diverse range of drawing and graphics on paper, textile, and wood.

Baltzersen’s first exhibition at Galleri Brandstrup was the group show titled “Idun Baltzersen, Espen Kvålsvoll, Ada Nilsen” in February 2022. The works featured in the exhibition were all different forms of woodcuts. They revolve around social hierarchies and the way people observe and evaluate one another; how the figures depicted in her work reject or hide from the observer's gaze.

The woodcuts were also a materialistic exploration of what can be achieved in woodcuts. Baltzersen often starts her artistic process by coloring printing plates and printing them by hand on different types of textiles so that each print is unique. These prints are then cut and sewn together into collages. Scale is important, and she prefers to work with the largest dimensions possible, to the point where her back becomes crooked, and her fingers get splinters. She uses materials not traditionally associated with art, materials you can buy at a hardware store or IKEA. After she has printed on textile, Baltzersen further processes the printing plates with a jigsaw, oil paint, to assemble them. The surfaces are then treated with varnish and epoxy, creating different varieties of gloss.

The artist draws inspiration from film, television, and Instagram, where many of the characters in the works are gathered. She specifically quests for body language and gestures that she finds unusual or strange. Additionally, the works presented in “Idun Baltzersen, Espen Kvålsvoll, Ada Nilsen” were inspired by works from artists such as Piero Della Francesca; the figures in his work are together but completely without communicating with each other.

Baltzersen is represented in collections such as Moderna Museet, Sweden; Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Sweden; Magasin III Museum & Foundation for Contemporary Art, Sweden; Haugesund Billedgalleri, Norway; Uppsala Konstmuseum, Sweden; Statens konstråd, Sweden; Trondheim Kommune, Norway; St. Olavs Hospital, Norway, among others.