Bjarne Melgaard (born 9 September 1967) is a Norwegian artist based in New York City. He has been described as "one of Norway's most important artists" and, following the 2014 publicity about his sculpture Chair, "the most famous Norwegian artist since Edvard Munch."
Life and work Melgaard was born in Sydney, Australia, to Norwegian parents and was raised in Oslo, Norway. In 2009, he moved permanently to New York. Melgaard studied at the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts, Rijksakademie in Amsterdam from 1991 to 1992 and at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht from 1992 to 1993.
Early in his career Melgaard created controversial installations referencing subversive subcultures such as S&M and heavy metal music.press release for A Weekend of Painting: A Novel by Les Super, LeoKoenig.com Currently, his practice consists of an emphasis on expressionistic paintings and drawings, often containing text.
His first show in New York was in 2000, where he exhibited sculptures of apes engaged in sex acts.
In January 2014, Melgaard's artwork Chair caused controversy. Chair is a sculpture of a bound black woman on her back with a seat cushion on her thighs, and is a reinterpretation of a similar piece by British pop artist Allen Jones. The controversy began when Russian art socialite Dasha Zhukova was photographed sitting on the cushion for a fashion website, resulting in online accusations of racism under the Twitter hashtag #racistchair. Guardian critic Jonathan Jones suggested that this controversy was a misunderstanding of Melgaard's intentions, and Zhukova said that the photograph of her was "out of context"; the artwork intended to be a "commentary on gender and racial politics". Melgaard himself released a statement responding to the controversy that was labeled by some writers as "bizarre".
Melgaard has collaborated with Norwegian artist Sverre Koren Bjertnaes in several exhibitions. The two alternated to work on the same canvas, giving them an expression neither of the artists would achieve alone.
Notable exhibitions 2025 Lion Sluts, Solo exhibition at Patricia Low Contemporary, Venice, Italy 2023
Golden Suicides, Solo exhibition at Keteleer Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium 2021
Accrochage, Group exhibition at Galleri Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria
2019
Naturally Naked, Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow
2014
Housewife (Edition/Art Print), Galleri Krinzinger
2013
"Bjarne Melgaard", Astrup Fearnley, Oslo "Ignorant Transparencies", Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York
2012 "A House to Die In", Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
2009
Artists of the Gallery, Group Exhibition, Galleri Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria
2008 Bjarne Melgaard, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
2007 The Glamour Chase, Galleri Faurschou, Copenhagen
2006
Helter Helter, Galerie Anne De Villepoix, Paris Les Super, Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Berlin A Weekend of Painting; A novel by Les Super, Galerie Leo Koenig, New York
2005
Jasmine La Nuit, The Horse Hospital, London Hallo Maybe, Haugar Vestfold Museum, Oslo
2004
Tirol Transfer, Oesterreichisches Kulturforum, Warsaw
2003
Skam, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen The End of The Professional Teenager, Sketch, London
2002
Black Low, MARTa Herford Museum, Hannover Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna
2001
New Heimat, Kunstverein Frankfurt
2000
Sharing Exoticisms, 5th Biennale de Lyon
Melgaard appears in Until the Light Takes Us, a documentary about the Norwegian black metal scene in the 1990s. The film featured in the 15th Athens International Film Festival (16–27 September 2009), screened at Danaos Cinema. In the film, an exhibition of Melgaard's in a Stockholm gallery is extensively shown, along with his comments on black/death metal.
References
External links Find yourself a different place to die! The debate regarding Ekely: Melgaard wishes to build in Munchs immediate proximity Galerie Krinzinger - Bjarne Melgaard The University of Chicago Press - Bjarne Melgaard Lars Bohman Gallery - Bjarne Melgaard Artnet - Bjarne Melgaard