Torbjørn Rødland (b. 1970, Stavanger, Norway) makes photographic images that pointedly address their viewers, evoking a wide range of emotional and intellectual states. Curiosity, humor, criticality, artifice, reverence for the natural world, and romanticism appear throughout his work and often in the same image. Rødland also emphasizes the formal attributes of his photographs, pushing the medium toward modes of visual expression more commonly associated with painting, and forging links between twentieth-century art photography and twenty-first-century approaches to image-making common to advertising and social media. Often prompted by non-photographic imagery that he transforms into real-world photographic subjects, Rødland portrays scenes designed to generate psychological reaction through his depiction of highly sensory qualities. The physicality present in the work is driven by his use of film-based cameras and chemical darkroom processes.
Torbjørn Rødland has been the subject of solo exhibitions including Oh My God You Guys, Le Consortium, Dijon, France (2023); Bible Eye, The Contemporary Austin, Texas (2021); Fifth Honeymoon, a traveling exhibition produced as a collaboration between Bergen Kunsthall, Norway, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki (2018–2019); THE TOUCH THAT MADE YOU, Fondazione Prada, Milan (2018) and the Serpentine, London (2017); Back in Touch, C/O Berlin (2017); and Blue Portrait (Nokia N82), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2016). Notable group exhibitions include Before Tomorrow – Astrup Fearnley Museet 30 Years, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway (2023); What People Do for Money, Manifesta 11, Zurich (2016); LIT, 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (2016); and 48th Venice Biennale, Italy (1999). His work is in the permanent collections of museums including Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway; Malmö Art Museum, Sweden; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and Museum of Modern Art, New York. Rødland lives and works in Los Angeles.
Torbjørn Rødland
Barbershop Scene, 2020
chromogenic print
55 1/8 x 43 3/8 inches
Edition of 3, with 1 AP
(140 x 110 cm)
framed:
56 1/8 x 44 3/8 x 2 inches
(142.6 x 112.7 x 5.1 cm)
Torbjørn Rødland
Eggs, 2019
chromogenic print
23 5/8 x 30 inches
(60 x 76 cm)
framed:
24 1/4 x 30 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches
(61.6 x 77.5 x 3.8 cm)
Edition of 3, with 1 AP
Torbjørn Rødland
Close Your Eyes, 2017
chromogenic print
23 5/8 x 30 inches
(60 x 76 cm)
framed:
24 1/8 x 30 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches
(61.3 x 77.5 x 3.8 cm)
Edition of 3, with 1 AP
Torbjørn Rødland
Narrative Stasis (Studio 798), 2008 - 2016
chromogenic print
55 1/16 x 43 3/8 inches
(139.9 x 110.2 cm)
Edition of 3, with 1 AP
Torbjørn Rødland
Red Pump, 2014 - 2015
chromogenic print
29 15/16 x 23 5/8 inches
(76 x 60 cm)
Edition of 3, with 1 AP
Torbjørn Rødland
Five Tears, 2014
silver gelatin print
22 1/2 x 17 3/4 inches
(57.2 x 45.1 cm)
Edition of 3, with 1 AP
Torbjørn Rødland
Avocado, 2013
chromogenic print
23 5/8 x 30 inches
(60 x 76.2 cm)
Edition of 3, with 1 AP
Torbjørn Rødland
Hands and Eyes. Portrait no.1, 2008 - 2010
chromogenic print
22 1/2 x 17 3/4 inches
(57 x 45 cm)
Edition of 3, with 1 AP
Torbjørn Rødland
132 BPM, 2005
single channel color video with sound
13 minutes
Edition of 6
Torbjørn Rødland
Frost no.4, 2001
chromogenic print
17 3/4 x 22 1/2 inches
(45.1 x 57.2 cm)
Edition of 5, with 1 AP
Torbjørn Rødland
Nudist No. 6, 1999
chromogenic print
15 3/4 x 19 5/8 inches
(40 x 50 cm)
Edition of 10
Torbjørn Rødland
In a Norwegian Landscape 18, 1995
chromogenic print
20 1/2 x 26 3/8 inches
(52.1 x 67 cm)
Edition of 3, with 1 AP