Willibald Storn (1936) was born in Austria, where he grew up under German Nazi rule. His father died in the Soviet Union during World War II, leaving an indelible mark on his worldview. In 1957, Storn moved to Norway and began studying at the School of Arts and Crafts in Oslo in 1958. After several years working as a merchant seaman, he made his debut at Høstutstillingen (The Autumn Exhibition) in 1963 and held his first solo exhibition at Kunstnerforbundet in 1968.
In the early years of his career, Storn’s work was defined by three main strands: uninhibited performance and installations that ridiculed capitalist culture; direct propaganda for the workers’ movement and feminist causes, executed in a sober, utilitarian visual style; and a utopian figuration, romantic and pastoral, influenced by Picasso, Chagall, and pre-modern traditions. His breakthrough came with the provocative performance-exhibition Coca Donald Samfunn—ikke ta meg (Coca Donald World—Don’t Take Me), presented at UKS, Oslo in 1969. Storn’s involvement with the GRAS artists’ collective further solidified his reputation as a politically engaged artist unafraid to challenge authority and societal norms.
As his career evolved, particularly from the late 1980s onward, the boundaries between these earlier modes dissolved. The influence of Picasso and Chagall gave way to a raw, expressionist flow of images and text. His works became a chaotic amalgam of diary pages, news reports, reality shows, advertisements, bad dreams, poems, pornography, and propaganda. Figures and faces in his paintings range from lost lovers to brutalized victims, often appearing as affectless, mutant, polysexual beings, blurred between pleasure and pain, hope and despair. Storn’s works reflect the crises of modern life, laying bare a perpetual state of conflict and violence without offering a vision of redemption. In this media-saturated chaos, the act of painting itself becomes both a solace and a guilty retreat, implicating the viewer in its gaze.
Storn’s more recent works focus on painting and photography, exploring themes of human nature and social dynamics. His use of rich symbolism and bold color captures both individual vulnerabilities and collective struggles. His notable exhibitions include solo shows at Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo (2016, curated by Lotte Konow Lund), Avistegnernes Hus, Drøbak (2018), and an upcoming solo exhibition at BGE Contemporary in 2024. His works will also be featured in group exhibitions such as Turbulenceat Galleri Norske Grafikere, Oslo.
Storn’s contributions to Norwegian art include public commissions for institutions such as Ullevål Sykehus, Rikshospitalet, the University of Tromsø, and Høyenhall Metro Station in Oslo. His works are part of significant collections, including the National Museum of Art (Norway), The British Museum (UK), Architecture, and Design (Norway), the Tangen Collection (Norway), and the Preus Museum(Norway). His art continues to provoke, unsettle, and inspire, offering a relentless interrogation of human nature and societal dynamics.
