The effect of abstraction
The motif is often the first thing we relate to when we look at a picture. When the motif is absent, other impressions come to the fore. In Inger Sitter’s large painting in the meeting room at the Centre for Continuing Education (EVU), the color comes first.
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Blue, gray, pink, red and white. The brush strokes move in all directions. Associations flow freely: In one place we get the feeling of running water. If we move our gaze, the mind conjures up a rock wall seen close up. Two fields stand out in the painting, the upper one resembles a face. With a little distance, we have a human figure in motion. But what the large painting depicts is less important. The dynamic composition creates pleasant sense of fascination in the viewer.
Inger Sitter (1929-) is one of our foremost painters and graphic artists, and was among those who contributed to bringing non-figurative and abstract painting "in from the cold". Sitter often worked on the basis of an experience of nature. She talked about rock shapes and tree trunks as sources of inspiration for her abstract pictures. Sitter has made public artworks for the Government Building, the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen and the cruise ship Norway. In 1999 she was appointed a Knight of the Order of St. Olav, and in 2010 she was promoted to Commander of the same order.
NORA SØRENSEN VAAGE