Entrée is proud to present the solo exhibition Dagar i skiftande ljos (Days in Changing Light) by Magnar Moen, coinciding with the annual Bergen International Festival. In this exhibition, he presents new large format charcoal drawings. Moen’s practice is rooted in a lifelong exploration of line, material, and perception, with charcoal as his primary medium.
Moen’s work emerges through an interaction between body, movement and concentration. In his studio he develops a direct, attentive relationship with the material. He is particularly fascinated by the line, which he describes as a seed for creation, for thinking, acting and imagining beyond what is given by nature. The line can have an origin unknown to us, yet it has its place in consciousness and becomes an extension of the hand. Through this, it can direct attention towards the unknown and unpredictable.
What happens on the paper may strike as an immediate sensory experience, or point back to something one has previously experienced. Moen’s drawings bear traces of an open and intense creation – a balance between structure and freedom, between stillness and movement.
Magnar Moen’s work is about processes, in which various black materials such as charcoal, graphite and spinel black play a central role. This has given him new ideas about what drawing can be, and expanded his understanding of what the line is, and what it can do. In black material there is volume, power and weight that give immediate results when faced with white paper.
It is often said that black is not a color, but a property in the absence of light. In this way, the black becomes self-referential, it is not associative in the way a color can be. For Moen there is a sense of freedom in this. It opens up a space where attention can be directed towards the process itself, and the physical action and dialogue with the paper become decisive. Even if things fail over and over, faith and joy persist in discovering new possibilities within the drawing process.
Magnar Moen (b. 1945, Trøndelag) is a visual artist based in Bergen. He was educated at the Bergen School of Arts and Crafts and 1 year as a visiting student at the Vestlandske Kunstakademi. Since the 1970s, he has worked with drawing and has held numerous solo exhibitions, including at Galleri Langegården, Haugesund Art Association, Nord-Trøndelag County Gallery, and Bergen Art Association. His works have been acquired by several public institutions such as Kode Art Museum, Levanger Municipality, Haugesund Billedgalleri, Sogn og Fjordande Art Museum and the Norwegian Art Council, and he was most recently represented in the 40th anniversary exhibition at USF Verftet in 2024.
