Priska C. Juschka Fine Art is pleased to present an exhibition of drawings by Norwegian artist Per Dybvig, marking his first solo show in the United States. By spontaneously fusing fragments of fleeting conversations, news reports and random encounters, Dybvig creates dense drawings rooted in his immediate surroundings and in the ongoing and ever-fluctuating stream of information.

For this particular series, Dybvig chose to inhabit New York City to capture American culture and social behavior as it is portrayed in the media and the public eye. He responds directly to his new environment as his work is dictated by external subjects that he has encountered in a given time frame. Dybvig works in an automated fashion recording statements he has heard, read or observed from news reports, public lectures or incidents on the streets.

Sketching what he gathers from this information, Dybvig creates visual impressions assembling them intuitively into colorful drawings on paper. His works display an array of contrasting styles—precisely rendered images cohabit with free and fluid forms to create a cacophony of imagery that echoes the ever-stimulating world in which we live.

With his drawings, Dybvig offers a candid retort to our oversaturated environs—exemplified by the most recent occurrences in the U.S.—slicing through the muddled stream of constant information to generate new, subjective meaning. The more he fills the surface of his works with random text and imagery, the less coherent they become. As the sub-stories bleed into one another, they blur former associations. With only fragments of references, the viewer is left to devise his or her interpretation of these complexly woven narratives. In offering an alternative look at our reality, Dybvig reinforces the manner in which any experience, however active or passive it may be, can prove to alleviate our overwhelming angst.

Per Dybvig is an artist and illustrator who currently lives and works in Stavanger, Norway. He has been included in a number of museum shows—most recently at the Lillehammer Art Museum in Oslo, Norway and the Skellefteå Konsthall in Sweden. His works are in several public collections in Norway: the National Gallery in Oslo, the Rogaland Museum of Fine Arts in Stavanger and the Arts Council Norway. He has also collaborated with many prominent Norwegian authors as he is considered one of Norway’s most popular illustrators of children’s books.