Cloud 9. 2010
Courtesy Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch

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Death Row. 2008

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exhibition view at Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin
Entschlafen zum Hafen Glück und Leid Vergangenheit (March – April 2010)

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Banging. 2010
Concrete, found objects. 110 x 95 cm

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exhibition view at Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin
Entschlafen zum Hafen Glück und Leid Vergangenheit (March – April 2010)

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Sacrament. 2010
welded iron, concrete, mixed media. 200 x 70 x 60 cm

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In Exile From the Mineral Kingdom, 1:37. 2009

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Synthetic Turf. 2010
Concrete, found objects. 110 x 94 cm

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Albatross. 2010
Iron. 175 x 170 cm

all images courtesy of the artist

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A marvelous and gigantic heap of pieces of metal that reveals our condition of forgetfulness and the absurdity of our world. A concentrate of iron exiled from the mineral kingdom in a sort of intermediate purgatory, awaiting to find incarnation in new industrial products or, in my case, in sculptures. – IDA EKBLAD about her work

The Norwegian artist IDA EKBLAD made her mark with concept-based collage art that explored the byways of American youth culture with humour and critical distance. In 2009, there was a palpable shift in her artistic activity: pretty much from one exhibition to the next, the focus changed, and most recently she has presented exhibitions with mainly formalist sculptures, abstract paintings and large concrete reliefs.

The production of her work revolves around “drifts” taken around the cities in which she will be making the work. EKBLAD collects materials on her walks, sifting through piles of rubble from demolished buildings and industrial heaps of metal. Once she has found the pieces, she begins an instinctive process to join them and weld them together just as words and phrases are connected in a poem.

IDA EKBLAD (born 1980) lives and works in Oslo. In collaboration with a couple of artist friends she has run the gallery Willy Wonka Inc in Oslo. And good news: her work is actually on view at ILLUMInations during the Venice Biennale.

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