Retreat Center

“Retreat Center” is an eclectic collection of recent collages, paintings, photographs, sculptures and sketches by Jan Freuchen. The publication also contains three short texts, written by Freuchen – “Desire Lines”, “Amorphous Beings” and “The Island” – offering alternative takes on the genealogy of drawing, sculpture and installation. Many of the works involve some kind of rigid and unbending structure that is confronted with an expressive gesture; the conventional structures that surround us in our everyday lives encounter a seemingly intuitive, free phenomenon. The works appear as a series of questions posed in a repetitive and almost manic way in an attempt to unite these conflicting idioms. Traditionally, the expressive gesture has been perceived as a liberating reaction to a constricted form. In Freuchen’s works, the “free line” appears equally constrained and obsessive as the controlled, geometric structures – bridging the brush stroke with the Nike swoosh.

All images and texts by Jan Freuchen
Text edited by Melissa Gronlund

In collaboration with Erik Steen Gallery www.eriksteen.no

Graphic design by NODE Oslo www.nodeoslo.com