How often does an exhibition really transport you? Or do you get to see the next international star emerge in a solo show at a Texas space? Well Danish artist Mie Olise's current view at Barbara Davis Gallery is one such occasion. Titled "A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks — Departure," the exhibition brilliantly and originally blends painting and an installation that together conjure architecture, the concept of voyages, and a make- believe world that possesses the magic of childhood fables recalling tales such as Peter Pan. Her ambitiously-scaled canvases are fluid, sure-footed and surprising, summoning a world of ship builders and passages that are straight out of own upbringing. (During our conversation the Saturday after her opening, Olise told us about her childhood — her father built wooden ships, and many images in these canvases are based on summer voyages the family took cruising along the Scandinavian coast in a vessel he had constructed; the experience left an indelible impression upon Olise, an only child, with days spent upon the water or anchored upon a remote coastal region.) The work is additionally based upon a narrative of a historical Danish writer, so there are layers upon layers for us to decipher, which adds richness to the paintings so that they begin to function as stage sets, bringing theater, story telling, poetry and metaphor to the viewing experience. We caught up with the Saatchi Gallery "Sensation Show" finalist and recent Skowhagen artist-in-residence for this exclusive interview. "Mie Olise: A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks — Departure," through March 27, Barbara Davis Gallery, 4411 Montrose, 713.520.9200; barbaradavisgallery.com.
Ten Topics for Mie Olise:
1. Please give us a brief synopsis of your upcoming show at Barbara Davis Gallery and its story line.
Mie: The show is the first of a series of works based on the story about "Esben Arnakke." Esben Arnakke is both the name of a fictional characterand a real ship. In fiction Esben Arnakke is a sailor, the main character of the Danish/Norwegian writer Aksel Sandemose, who grew up at the same island in Denmark as I did. He fled the island by ship when he was 16. The ship Esben Arnakke is a big wooden ship, that my father build when I was born. We sailed the ship for more thann a decade — then lost it. I am trying to investigate where the ship is today.
2. Are you characters based on real life people or meant to be read as archetypes? Any connection between them and characters in myths, plays, history or literature?
Mie: My work is mostly about the void of people. I am never really attracted to the characters as characters, but the narratives relating to place. There are never people in my paintings or films; the viewer in that sense, is the only person in the works. I am interested in constructions, built constructions, but also constructed lives, societies and rules. I am especially drawn to desolate places, and abandoned structures, and to investigate what went on at these empty fields. In general the place is one of my primary interests. Earlier on I have been going to specific places investigating. From a [no longer inhabited] Russian settlement by the North Pole, the Pyramid City, to the abandoned amusement park in Berlin, Spreepark [which was a most recent subject].
3. Is there a certain reason you choose this subject for Houston audiences? Have you formed an impression of our city and the concept of Texas from your first exhibition here?
Mie: I have been in Houston several times, but is not the subject of this exhibition. When I enter the exhibition space I want the work to occupy this specific place. Like one place meeting the other. So I try to build a construction, like a bridge between the two rooms. I have worked in the gallery before, and in that way it is very exciting to come back and touch onto it in a new way. On a personal level my impression is that Houston is a great city in the arts [with] the Menil, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Rothko Chapel, the Core Program. A lot of very interesting and inspiring things are going on in Houston. I like the warm people and the friendly atmosphere — I have really enjoyed my stays.
4. How do these ideas come to you? Do you write down the stories first? Keep an ongoing journal?
Mie: This exhibition is different from the other projects I have been working on the last few years. It is part of my story. I think, I will be working on it for a long time. I have general interests, that I always investigate because I find them so fascinating — abandoned places, and what happened there, the architectural ideas behind the planning and stories about dystopias. Sometimes it makes sense to me working with these investigations, either in painting, structures or film and they tend to form projects, not to tell a whole story. Maybe rather to be able to approach on different layers. Sometimes, if necessary, to contradict each other.
5. Was there a specific inspiration for this show? Or is a melding of your background, childhood memories, etc? Is there a connection between the exhibition and your own background? What specifically?
Mie: The show is a blending between my studies of Aksel Sandemoses stories, and the investigations to find the ship. I create an artificial background, a new history for myself, built on these fathers' history. The man that fled the island, and the man that brought me there.
6. Should the exhibition-goer infer a dialogue between your work and the grand Danish tradition of fairy tales, as exemplified by the master Hans Christian Andersen?
Mie: No, I believe that they should experience the work from their own background and with their questions/interests in life. I find that personal stories, as specific they can be, often awaken personal stories in general too, especially if we dare being honest enough.
7. The concept of specific places and the sense of travel are ongoing topics in your work. How does this relate to your own background? How many places have you lived from your childhood to you current work as an artist? Please name them, including your recent artist residencies.
Mie: I tend to work with places reminding me of places I once knew, but often these are geographically very far from the places I actually have lived. The places I have lived is listed below: Roskilde, DK. Greve Strand, DK. Sundby, Mors, DK. Nykoebing Mors, DK. Ulfborg, DK. Aarhus, DK. London, UK. Copenhagen, DK. San Fransisco, US. Berlin, Germany. Iceland, IS. Skowhegan, Maine, US. New York, US.
8. Do you believe that is important to keep moving and experiencing new physical places to recharge, to discover a better new world?
Mie: For me it is one of many ways to make me think and see things from other perspectives, meeting new people with completely different stories and histories — I like hanging out with a diverse crowd, age, gender and nationality. I feel more comfortable and safe here. I find conformity is scary.
9. Sound is gradually creeping into your work (although not in the Houston project). How do you relate to audio in your art-making? And the broader concept of collaboration?
Mie: I have made several works with sound, primarily in video installations. I have collaborated a lot with Goodiepal, a brilliant electronic sound artist. As I work broadly in medias, collaboration is a part of my work; I [have] asked people to collaborate in my films and in sound. Last year I collaborated on a construction with the artist Mary Mattingly in a show in London. Travelling to places I don`t know beforehand, I am also very dependend ot collaboration with the local inhabitants. In my painting process on the other hand, I like the desolate proces in the studio just by myself.
10. Your personal narrative is so fascinating. Was you father a real shipbuilder? Did you actually sail in his ships?
Mie: I have sailed in several ships and boats he has built. He played an accordition and sang sailors' songs from his youth at sea. Aksel Sandemose did too. This experience is a part of the common room of the Arnakke narratives.
And at the end of this interview, the artist told us:
"I think the Hans Andersen and character questions are not really my thing; desolate places, spaces and constructions are, and the role of the very subjective detective ... and working between painting, constructions and video and sound as my medias."