The hills and mountains of Norway are the homes of various mystic creatures that over the centuries have crept into the every day life of the inhabitants. When Andreas Tellefsen (*1976) came from Norway to Berlin some years ago, he brought these creatures with him and infiltrated them into his elegant-grotesque picture-worlds.

The artist´s urban repertoire of figures with their dandy-like melancholy is now acompanied by furious dwarfs and trolls, that engage in dramatic fights between good and bad, between life and death.

Tellefsen’s black- and- white inkdrawings stem from of an eclectic mannerism, which understands to merge acribic detailed art-history-references like Dürer-quotes with representation conventions of present comic-strip artists in a very elegant way. Popular culture references from black metal or rockabilly music are connected with Aubrey Beardsley´s Fin de Siecle esthetic. Tellefsen handles his source material indiscriminative, samples it effectively and then synthesizes it to overly- histrionic tableaus of vanitas“.

His admiration for the grotesque, the anfathomable and hypertrophy but also for the aesthetic array of the baroque Kunst- and Wunderkammer is conspicuous and at the same time the contemporary outlook of these works is absolutely evident.

The Fascination of his works owe themselves to Tellefsen’s unique drawing technique. What seems like a graphic print, is the result of a precise time- consuming work with a fine brush, that is especially made for him. The mysterious gloss of the dark and deep ink comes from schellack, that is known from the early times of vinyl industry. Like this, he creates through his ambigous meticulousness and strong black areas, a work of pompous and graceful character.

Simultaneously to the opening the publication PLUMBO COLOUR will be released. Its realization is made possible through the funding by noCube publishing of Norway . With this publication, another book-project of Tellefsen is presented. For many years, the artist has collected material from diverse magazines, which he collaged and then put into drawings. A drawn finding book full of cute animals, slinky women and deadly tragedies.

For the opening, the norwegian musician Zweizz will convert Tellefsen's digitalized drawings in an experimental operation.

Ilka Toedt

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