Bjorn Ransve Norwegian b. 1944

The board is sound. There are no retouchings evident under ultraviolet light. The paint surface is in good overall condition and the artist's original impastos remain intact. Held under glass in a simple wooden frame painted silver.
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Painted in 1995, the present work relates to a series of drawings that Ransve executed the same year (see: Cecilie Brundtland, Eva Furseth and Eivind Tjønneland, Ransve, tegninger l961 - 2005, Stuttgart, 2006, pp. 374-376).

Educated at the Oslo Academy of Art, Ransve draws from the widest possible range of visual and historical references to create lucid and powerful images of existential and melancholic anxiety that move between the macabre and the ecstatic.

Ransves depiction of the ape explores his interest in the humanisation of animals. Using strong colour contrasts and vivid brush strokes Ransve gives expression and movement to the subject. As with the present work, his ape portraits suggest the loneliness and isolation of the animal, the series capturing the tension between the inner self of the animal, the physical limitations of the body and the viewers preconceived attitude towards the subject.