8/14/2023 0 Comments Matthew barney astrup fearnleyThe combination of Barney’s Cremaster fragments, Damien Hirst’s dissected cows and Richard Prince’s Cowboys could seem somehow superficial if it were not for the fact that Astrup is also an ‘in depth’ collector and cannot be accused of merely name-dropping. In contrast to the large-scale works that sometimes seem to be jostling for attention here, the inaugural exhibition, To Be with Art Is All We Ask – quoting Gilbert & George – has a quite modest-sounding title. “The particular thing about our collection is that we aim to collect a wide range of works by just a few artists, rather than the other way round” – which is why no other museum in Europe has such a concentration of works by Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman and Matthew Barney. “In fact we now have two buildings – one for the collection and one for special exhibitions,” director Gunnar Kvaran, who has run the museum for the last 11 years, tells us. Now, in the new Piano building, with its total exhibition space of around 4,000sqm (plus sculpture garden and a private shoreline), the collection has a home that is three times the size of its previous quarters. The 1,500 works in the collection, mainly contemporary art from the USA, used to be housed in the museum wing at Astrup’s company headquarters in the city. A controversial model, but one that may well be taken up elsewhere now that public institutions are increasingly showing works from private collections. The Astrup Fearnley Collection, owned by the shipping magnate Hans Rasmus Astrup, is now on display in the new complex. The city of Oslo, keen for art to add value to the area, has put the new building at the disposal of the Astrup Fearnley Museum. This elegant construction at the tip of the Tjuvholmen peninsula is part of a brand new waterfront development scheme within walking distance of the town hall. Oslo’s waterfront has a new flagship: the Astrup Fearnley Museum, designed by Renzo Piano. Above us a glass roof, like a sail floating out from the gentle curve of the building. It’s like being on the deck of a luxury ocean liner – tall, light-coloured wood-clad walls and a view out across the fjord.
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