Trygve Faste
Biography:
EDUCATION MFA in Painting, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 2004 BA in Studio Art and Mathematics/Computer Science, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, 1997 SELECTED EXHIBITION RECORD 2007 Contemporary Urban Landscape, Lemberg Gallery, Ferndale, MI W.O.P. (Works On Paper), the Brewery Project, Los Angeles, CA 2006 Anniversary Exhibition, DaimlerChrysler, Farmington Hills, MI New Work, Lemberg Gallery, Ferndale, MI 2005 Building Connections: Architectural Dialogues, Cranbrook Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI Winter Group Exhibition, Lemberg Gallery, Ferndale, MI 2004 Studio Art Faculty Exhibition, Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA Summer Group Show, Lemberg Gallery, Ferndale, MI Thesis Exhibition, Cranbrook Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI Feelings, Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI 2003 Fan Fair, Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI Cranbrook Painters 2003, Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI 2001 Suite Home Chicago, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL California Grown, The Base Space, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 2000 Bay Area Images, D2M Gallery Space, Mountain View, CA 1999 Zines and Comics Exhibition, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA National Exhibition, Colored Pencil Society of America, Seattle, WA COLLECTIONS Cranbrook Art Museum Compuware Daimler Chrysler BIBLIOGRAPHY The Metro Times, “City Lights: Lemberg Gallery Joins the Metropolitan Conversation” George Tysh, February 28, 2007 “The Metal Sunset of Tomorrows Ascending Decent” Jules Boykoff, May 2006 Royal Oak Mirror. “Lemberg Gallery Shows Cranbrook Work” J.L. Bardelline, April 13, 2006 Contemporary. "Clara Park, Positions of Contemporary Painting from Leipzig." Matthew Biro, issue no 69, 2004. TEACHING EXPERIENCE Artist in Residence/ Interim Head of Painting Department, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, Fall 2005 Johnston Scholar, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, Art Department, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, 2004-2005 Lecturer, Design Division, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 2000Statement:
“...[A]ny technology gradually creates a totally new human environment. Environments are not passive wrappings but active processes.” -Marshall McLuhanMy current paintings are a synthesis of two related yet differing ways of thinking creatively: Studio Art and Industrial Design. Designers help to form the objects and experiences that make up the fabric of our environment and drive our economy. Though I love design, I am weary of the seductive nature of consumer culture and I am fascinated by the strength and variety of emotions that consumerism can propagate in people. In my current work I explore the complex relationships we have with the dynamic landscape of objects that surround us. In particular, I am interested in our relationship with the environment and how aesthetics and desire play into what and how we create.
I work with a variety of contemporary visual languages found in consumer products and popular design. These include common stylistic sensibilities connoting things like technology, functionality, performance, quality, and innovation. I then synthesize these stylistic elements into common themes and create a simplified abstract visual language to work with in my paintings. This is a highly subjective and intuitive process that relies on both conscious and subconscious processing of contemporary design imagery. My goal is to create paintings that universally address familiar types of styling conventions, yet are not overtly referential to anything recognizable. I like the idea that these paintings strive to achieve a dimensional tangibility, hovering somewhere between an idea and a form. As such, the tradition of abstract painting is a fitting way in which to explore this area.
To achieve these objectives my paintings have multi planar surfaces, carefully chosen color palates, and trompe l’oeil shading to address ideas of form, and style. The shaped canvases allow for a dynamic illusionistic relationship to take place between the implied dimensionality of the painted surface and the actual form. Faded color fields add visual depth and implied dimension. The acrylic paint is applied by mechanical means (airbrush) to give a crisp manufactured aesthetic where desired, and traditional brush strokes when detail and nuance are needed. Accurately constructing the shaped canvases with all of their various angles is a technically complex design and craftsmanship problem. I use Rhino for 3D modeling my designs and the laser cutter to output the shapes with which I can construct the supports.