Ole Tersløse was born in Denmark in 1971 and graduated as a painter from The Ro­yal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2000 and has worked increasingly with computer manipulated photography and visualization in 3D computer programs ever since.

He has participated in group and solo exhibitions in Europe and U.S.A. His works have been shown at art fairs such as “Art Copenhagen” and “St’art, foire d’art con­temporain” in Strassbourg, and he is member of Los Angeles Center for Digital Art.

The harbour at 5 pm - no 4 - ed 3 145 x 120 cm - ed 12 60 x 50 cm - computer animated image - lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm – no 4 – ed 3 145 x 120 cm – ed 12 60 x 50 cm – computer animated image – lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm - no 5 floej 1 - ed 3 145 x 120 cm - ed 12 60 x 50 cm - computer animated image - lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm – no 5 floej 1 – ed 3 145 x 120 cm – ed 12 60 x 50 cm – computer animated image – lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm - no 5 floej 2 - ed 3 145 x 120 cm - ed 12 60 x 50 cm - computer animated image - lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm – no 5 floej 2 – ed 3 145 x 120 cm – ed 12 60 x 50 cm – computer animated image – lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm - no 5 floej 3 - ed 3 145 x 120 cm - ed 12 60 x 50 cm - computer animated image - lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm – no 5 floej 3 – ed 3 145 x 120 cm – ed 12 60 x 50 cm – computer animated image – lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm - no 5 floej 4 - ed 3 145 x 120 cm - ed 12 60 x 50 cm - computer animated image - lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm – no 5 floej 4 – ed 3 145 x 120 cm – ed 12 60 x 50 cm – computer animated image – lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm - no 3 floej 1 - ed 3 145 x 120 cm - ed 12 60 x 50 cm - computer animated image - lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm – no 3 floej 1 – ed 3 145 x 120 cm – ed 12 60 x 50 cm – computer animated image – lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm - no 3 floej 2 - ed 3 145 x 120 cm - ed 12 60 x 50 cm - computer animated image - lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm – no 3 floej 2 – ed 3 145 x 120 cm – ed 12 60 x 50 cm – computer animated image – lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm - no 3 floej 3 - ed 3 145 x 120 cm - ed 12 60 x 50 cm - computer animated image - lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm – no 3 floej 3 – ed 3 145 x 120 cm – ed 12 60 x 50 cm – computer animated image – lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm - no 3 floej 4 - ed 3 145 x 120 cm - ed 12 60 x 50 cm - computer animated image - lambda print 2013

The harbour at 5 pm – no 3 floej 4 – ed 3 145 x 120 cm – ed 12 60 x 50 cm – computer animated image – lambda print 2013

 

Next exhibition: Solo-exhibition “The Harbour at 5 PM”

computer generated images as lambdaprint mounted behind glass

Solo-exhibition with Ole Tersløse

03.05.14 -08.06.14, Galerie Provence

Charles Lindberghs vej 5, 9430 Vadum, Denmark

About ”the harbour at 5 pm”

How do we know a dream is just a dream? The question is almost impossible to answer, and that is probably one of the reasons that the distinction between real and dream has always fascinated us. The dream is so close to reality that we almost believe in it, but it can, paradoxically, always be decoded as “non-reality”.

It is the same that characterizes Ole Tersløse’s image series “The Har­bour at 5 PM”, which he shows in its entirety for the first time at his upcoming solo-show at Galerie Provence in Vadum. Nobody doubts that the images show constructed scenes, but it can be difficult to pin-point why we do not believe the illusion.

The last few years Ole Tersløse, who originally was a painter, has mainly worked with 3D visualizations on the computer. The computer applications, which are also used in the film industry to create visual effects, have to create as credible results as possible. However, in his new series Ole Tersløse does not create the perfect illusion. He, so to speak, stops midway. The harbour setting, which it the common theme of the series, lack details and seems like artificial set pieces. That’s one of the explanations why what Ole shows us does not seem “quite real”.

Another explanation is that the depicted people do a number of absurd and pointless acts. A naked man fishes down a sewer, while another person lies on his back with a wide open mouth and lets a seagull re­gurgitate food into his gaping mouth.

At five PM the workday is over and we enter an existential no man’s land before the calm of the evening descends upon us. We have a short break where we “have nothing to do”, but all the same are not tired enough to rest. In this break it is acceptable to dream and perform nonsense rituals. In Ole Tersløse’s image world you can place a metal dolphin on your back and spirit yourself away to a distant coast beyond the horizon. All this could actually be done in “the real world” but do we “really” want to?

The first image in the series “The Harbour at 5 PM” was shows at the moving exhibition “After Surrealism”. As this title sug­gest, the show aimed to illuminate how surreal elements still live on in contemporary visual art. The series: “The Harbour at 5 PM” can, with its empty spaces, long shadows in the late afternoon­light, and the clearly drawn contours, remind you of Giorgio de Chirico’s works which are generally regarded as precursors of

surrealism. However, Ole Tersløse’s digitally generated images also have clear references to the often caricatured realism of computer games.

Nothing is quite where it should be in Tersløse’s imagery. It’s not quite dream and not quite reality. Past traditions of painting intertwine with contemporary ground-breaking image technology. The persons in the images do strange things and make odd signs, and you may ask more than once what the meaning of it all is.

Maybe the “meaning” is that we for a short while should enjoy the ab­sence of meaning. 5 o’clock in the afternoon at the empty harbor when the ferry has departed, when it is too early to go home and too late to stay; it is the most meaningless time of day and in life in general. Somehow we entered the world on the wrong footing and this gives us some space around us for a short while. And because we for this short while don’t have anything to do we are in a position to sense the mar­vels of the world and the richness of simply being.

 

Translated by Jan Esmann

 www.galerie-provence.dk

www.terslose.dk

’art, foire d’art con­temporain” in Strassbourg, and he is member of Los Angeles Center for Digital Art.