Stavanger, Norway
My favorite myth is Norwegian, telling of how trolls caught in sunlight turn to stone. It might explain the astonishingly colorful variety of rocks Anne Marie Arnøy has found in her homeland over the years, but even more so the charming animals, people and scenes she conjures from their fragments. She has turned shards of rosy thulite, Norway’s national stone, into the most beautiful birds; limey serpentine into a wee child, cuddled up against its mother; glossy biotite into a voluptuous woman’s gleaming hair. In her hands, a chip of slate can be a boat, the figure manning it, or a pair of chic balloon pants. To some extent, this is pareidolia, the human inclination to find figurative meaning in the landscape, organic matter, and elsewhere. But also, and perhaps more so, it is the magic of an artist who communes deeply with her material, understanding what it is capable of, being unafraid to use it unconventionally, and knowing how to collaborate with it.
—Lori Waxman, March 18, 5:03 PM