Berit Louise Sara-Grønn (b.1981) is a visual artist. Living and working in Oslo. She works with painting, photography and sculpture. She has previously studied Fine Art Photography and is now studying at the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo alongside her artistic practice. Her work has been featured nationally as well as in private collections. Taking inspiration from her own experiences and observations, Berit Louise creates abstract paintings in acrylic and oil on canvas. Her paintings are characterized by complementary color palettes and emotive gestures that relate form to color.

Angeliki Kim Jonsson is the founder of DYNAMISK Curating and Art Advisory alongside the curating and advising projects she runs an “In Conversation with..” series that is soon available as a pod cast. Angeliki is currently co-writing her first book.

Angeliki: How long have you been painting?

Berit Louise: I have been painting and working with photography for about 10-12 years, after first being introduced to them as an artist assistant.

Angeliki: You are currently based in Norway, when reading into your art practice you often mention your heritage as ‘Sami’ and inspired by the ‘Nordic’ surrounding. Can you expand a bit on this?

Berit Louise: I am Sami and my upbringing in the Sami culture has thought me how to value nature, subconsciousness and the world’s spirituality, the way life was handled and the impressions of everyday life is well within me. Someone tells me a story and it takes me away to another place, I will give it a room in my mind for another day. I believe I’ve been doing that all my life, storing the impressions, the black, the white, the grey. Some of them have been in there a while, they are losing form and substance, the test of time will do that. Others are strong and bright, easy to access. I can take it out, I can feel and process it all over again. So, my work is made of all that lies within me, my own experiences, relations and beliefs are in a conversation with my observations.

Angeliki: Do you think it would be possible to continue your art or would your art be very different if you moved away from Norway?

Berit Louise: That is a difficult question, I am me wherever I live, but at the same time, different surroundings have different feelings and that would have of course given a different form of expression. What I am aware of is that people outside of Norway look at my art with different eyes than people do here at home in Norway.

Angeliki: You recently had a show “I’ll show you mine and imagine yours” can you tell me a little bit more about that show?

Berit Louise: The series of works “I’ll show you mine and imagine yours” that also lend its name to the exhibition, consists of several paintings and two sculptures. The project calls into question presumptions about the contextuality and phrases, following this, the title plays with the observer’s perception. Are they in actuality empty containers, or do they mean something? If so, is it because you want it to mean something, or are those the facts. How do we ever know?

Angeliki: How long time does it take to complete a work of art? Do they range widely in size or is there a specific format you prefer working within?

Berit Louise: It varies greatly, I use anywhere between three days to three weeks to complete a work of art. When I first started painting, I painted small. But now, and for the past two years, I have been painting mostly large paintings and if it feels right, for the expression I want to achieve. A feeling of something bigger, a room/space to “go in to”.

Angeliki: Do you work on different paintings simultaneously?

Berit Louise: I work on two or three paintings at the same time. Most of my projects start with a photograph of something that takes me back in one of the places in me, that are filled with all of my senses and that leads me into the painting. Applying colour, form, expressions, words, themes and life on the canvas gives me freedom to play and develop within my own regulations. It feels like I am a part of a dialogue and that I have a lot vibrancy to include to the painting, it becomes an abundance of visual information.

Angeliki: Which artists or/ and art movements inspires you and your practice?

Berit Louise: I am currently interested in Helen Frankenthaler, Gerhard Richter, Tracy Emin and the late Sami artist Nils Aslak Valkiapää.

I find inspiration from abstract art, abstract expressionism and modern art.

Angeliki: Can you expand on the relationship between the paint and the written text in your work? How do they entwine?

Berit Louise: My work is about my perception of life, fluctuating themes I spend time thinking of, and mythology. I observe society, I observe how the world works and does not work. I observe my surroundings, the people in my life and how they are, what they believe in, how they talk and move. My own experiences, relations and beliefs are in a conversation with my observations. I look at my surroundings and create a kind of sense of chance. My texts are emotions that arise as words, some thoughts and sometimes stories from my life. Sometimes there are colours and movement as well. I gather them together on canvas, or I use it for titles. Writing is a part of my work, and I alternate between how I use it.

Angeliki Kim Jonsson in Conversation with Berit Louise Sara-Grønn: