WORK   2018
Bad Painter
Høstutstillingen 2018 -
National Art Exhibition


I am always happy when I encounter art that as well as being interesting to look at and reflect on, is genuinely entertaining.

Kåre Bulie in D2 magazine

First and foremost, Terje Nicolaisen is a very entertaining artist. Typically, the work of his is among the very few I still can remember from the latest National Art Exhibition. With the title "Untitled (Bad Painter)" he had painted a picture of a shabby, long-haired gentleman, with the irresistible inscription "He was the only bad painter for miles. Artists came to him for advice». I am always happy when I encounter art that as well as being interesting to look at and reflect on, is genuinely entertaining. The art institution's relationship with humor is at best ambivalent. In a milieu with few rules to navigate by and with a corresponding high degree of uncertainty, the majority seems to be more concerned with a so-called serious appearance than a amusing one, and a social and political engaged facade rather than a witty. Although this results in not so few boring works it also suggests that in the history of art seriousness has had better conditions than humor.

Bad Painter (2018), Acrylic and oil on paper, 780 x 1200 mm