June Art FairMartin Sæther and Doris Guo
Press release
VI, VII is proud to present solo exhibitions by Martin Sæther and Doris Guo in the fifth edition of June Art Fair.
Sæther’s works are created using casting techniques that involve working with canvas, cardboard, paper maché and plaster in various steps and phases. Several of his works mimic relics from the history of Norwegian design, leftover in apartments from previous owners, and which bear the haunting qualities of something undesired.
At June Art Fair Sæther exhibits three distinct bodies of work: mixed media paintings that mimic fiberglass wallpaper, hand-cast collages based on vintage party napkins and a new series of cast wax sculptures with wicks that can be lit like candles.
Sæther has an MFA from Oslo National Academy of the Arts and in 2022 completed a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.
Recently his work has been included in BLUNK, Trond Mohns Collection at Stavanger Art Museum and Jeg kaller det kunst, a group exhibition at Norway’s National Museum.
Notable exhibitions include Gjenboer, VI, VII, Oslo; Paper Planes, Standard (Oslo), Min Strie, Femtensesse, Oslo; Route, Oppland Kunstsener, Lillehammer, Post, Destiny’s Atelier and a solo exhibition at the Young Artists’ Society (UKS), Oslo.
Doris Guo’s works at June Art Fair are linked through their delicate construction of mysterious forms. A projector with object placed discretely inside (Unwhere, 2023) projects a baffling form.
Also on view is a selection of mezzotints, the results of a time and labor intensive process. Mezzotint is a form of engraving developed in the seventeenth century which allows for the creation of soft gradations of tone. Using copper plates and a rocking tool with a row of tiny v-shaped teeth the artist cuts into the plate’s surface, creating small indents in the metal for ink to deposit into. The repeated rocking and layering of tiny cuts produces a richer black print.
The darkest value of the mezzotint is deeper than those produced by other intaglio methods.
While rocking the working perceptibility of ink tone and depth on the paper surface grows into a singular form. Throughout this process, the artist searches for something recognizable, for context, also aspiring for more darkness. It is difficult to achieve a light value after all the cuts layered and working together have been made. The darker the surface, the easier it is to see the ambient dust which floats around, accumulating.
Guo’s general approach comes out of a desire to capture ambient dispositions toward the social patterns and ritual dimensions of living. Rather than providing an explicit narrative that her sculptures become remnants of, she suggests oblique narratives and feelings by repurposing and recreating disparate objects and materials worn by human usage. Working with a variety of materials and media the bodies of work she produces often come from a journalistic approach to the feelings and affects of lived experience.
The ambiences of the day-to-day, and the distances between and how we come to identify what we see remain a starting point of her practice as she works with readymades and the visual languages of interior spaces.
The artist has previously had solo exhibitions at Veronica, Seattle; inge, New York; Bodega, New York; Éclair, Berlin, Real Fine Arts, New York and is scheduled to have one at VI, VII, Oslo in September. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at Afternoon Projects, Shanghai; Plymouth Rock, Zurich; Galerie Maria Bernheim, Zurich; Crèvecoeur, Paris and 47 Canal, New York.
Doris Guo is an American artist living in Oslo. She received her BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in 2014 and recently completed her MFA at Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
Solo exhibitions include Shanghai San Francisco Richmond Seattle New York Oslo (TRACE) at Veronica, Seattle (2022) , inge, New York (2022), 9PM Til I at Éclair, Berlin (2019), XO at Bodega, New York (2019), Coffee & Tea at Princess, New York (2018) and Joss at Real Fine Arts, New York (2017).
Group exhibitions include X Years, VI, VII, Oslo (2022), When the Word Becomes Flesh, Baader-Meinhof, Omaha (2022), Flow, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York (2021), Misunderstandings (A Theory of Photography), Plymouth Rock, Zurich (2020), 01102020, Fisher Parrish Gallery, Brooklyn (2020), Cruise Kidman Kubrick, Galerie Maria Bernheim, Zurich, (2019), Pastoral (Grind and Drone), 47 Canal, New York (2019), The Parisian Nights, Crèvecoeur, Paris (2019).
This presentation is generously supported by OCA (Norway’s Office for Contemporary Art).
Exhibition view
Exhibition view
Exhibition view
Exhibition view
Exhibition view
Exhibition view
Exhibition view
Martin Sæther, Untitled, 2022
Collage on handmade paper
37 × 31 × 3.5 cm (14 ⅝ × 12 ¼ × 1 ⅜ inches)
Collage on handmade paper
37 × 31 × 3.5 cm (14 ⅝ × 12 ¼ × 1 ⅜ inches)
Martin Sæther, Untitled, 2022
Collage on handmade paper
37 × 31 × 3.5 cm (14 ⅝ × 12 ¼ × 1 ⅜ inches) (14 ⅝ × 12 ¼ × 1 ⅜ inches)
Collage on handmade paper
37 × 31 × 3.5 cm (14 ⅝ × 12 ¼ × 1 ⅜ inches) (14 ⅝ × 12 ¼ × 1 ⅜ inches)
Martin Sæther, Untitled, 2022
Collage on handmade apper, artist frame
32 × 30 × 3.5 cm (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches) (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches)
Collage on handmade apper, artist frame
32 × 30 × 3.5 cm (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches) (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches)
Martin Sæther, Untitled, 2022
Collage on handmade apper, artist frame
32 × 30 × 3.5 cm (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches) (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches) (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches)
Collage on handmade apper, artist frame
32 × 30 × 3.5 cm (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches) (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches) (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches)
Martin Sæther, Untitled, 2022
Collage on handmade apper, artist frame
32 × 30 × 3.5 cm (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches)
Collage on handmade apper, artist frame
32 × 30 × 3.5 cm (12 ⅝ × 11 ¾ × 1 ⅜ inches)
Martin Sæther, Dogtooth, 2022
Collage on handmade paper
35 × 45 cm (13 ¾ × 17 ¾ inches)
Collage on handmade paper
35 × 45 cm (13 ¾ × 17 ¾ inches)
Martin Sæther, Checked green #2, 2022
Collage on handmade paper
Collage on handmade paper
Martin Sæther, Strie #11, 2022
Acrylic paint and paper on canvas
90 × 81 × 3 cm (35 ⅜ × 31 ⅞ × 1 ⅛ inches)
Acrylic paint and paper on canvas
90 × 81 × 3 cm (35 ⅜ × 31 ⅞ × 1 ⅛ inches)
Martin Sæther, Untitled, 2022
Acrylic plaster, glass fibre and pigment
26 × 30.5 × 3 cm (10 ¼ × 12 × 1 ⅛ inches)
Acrylic plaster, glass fibre and pigment
26 × 30.5 × 3 cm (10 ¼ × 12 × 1 ⅛ inches)
Martin Sæther, Matchbox, 2023
Wax and thread
23 × 2 × 17 cm (9 × ¾ × 6 ¾ inches)
Wax and thread
23 × 2 × 17 cm (9 × ¾ × 6 ¾ inches)
Martin Sæther, Knapp, 2023
Wax and thread
ø 17 cm (ø 6 ¾ inches)
Wax and thread
ø 17 cm (ø 6 ¾ inches)
Martin Sæther, Strielys, 2023
Wax and thread
13 × 2 × 17 cm (5 ⅛ × ¾ × 6 ¾ inches)
Wax and thread
13 × 2 × 17 cm (5 ⅛ × ¾ × 6 ¾ inches)
Martin Sæther, Switch, 2023
Wax and thread
ø 17 cm (ø 6 ¾ inches)
Wax and thread
ø 17 cm (ø 6 ¾ inches)
Doris Guo, Unwhere, 2023
Opaque projector, magnifying glasses, armature
Opaque projector, magnifying glasses, armature
Doris Guo, Unwhere, 2023
Opaque projector, magnifying glasses, armature
Opaque projector, magnifying glasses, armature
Doris Guo, Unwhere, 2023
Opaque projector, magnifying glasses, armature
Opaque projector, magnifying glasses, armature
Doris Guo, It isn’t necessary, 2022
Mezzotint on cotton rag
21 × 21 × 2 cm (8 ¼ × 8 ¼ × ¾ inches)
Mezzotint on cotton rag
21 × 21 × 2 cm (8 ¼ × 8 ¼ × ¾ inches)
Doris Guo, Hard Mesh, 2022
Mezzotint on cotton rag
21 × 21 × 2 cm (8 ¼ × 8 ¼ × ¾ inches)
Mezzotint on cotton rag
21 × 21 × 2 cm (8 ¼ × 8 ¼ × ¾ inches)
Doris Guo, Abysmal fruit, 2022
Mezzotint on cotton rag
21 × 21 × 2 cm (8 ¼ × 8 ¼ × ¾ inches)
Mezzotint on cotton rag
21 × 21 × 2 cm (8 ¼ × 8 ¼ × ¾ inches)
