Samoa Rémy
Nearing Towards the Edge of the World
Samoa Rémy, Nearing Towards the Edge of the World, 2023. Photo: Jacky Jaan Yuan Kuo
The exhibition Nearing Towards the Edge of the World shows works by Samoa Rémy, created between 2020-2023.
Samoa Rémy was born in 1974 in Mendrisio, Switzerland and has been based in Oslo for more than twenty years.Rémy holds a master’s degree in printmaking from the Art and Design department, the Oslo National Academy of the Arts from 2002, and she was an exchange student at the National Academy of Fine Arts, Oslo from 1997 to 1999. Remy also undertook a MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts, Florence, Italy in 1999. Remy is currently a PhD fellow in artistic practice at the Department of Art and Craft at KHiO, undertaking a project titled Layers of Darkness and Light. The works shown in this exhibition are a continuation of her PhD project.
“The exhibition deals with the gap between the known and the unknown, between the measured and the unmeasured, the very close and the very far, between darkness and light.”
Samoa Rémy, Nearing Towards the Edge of the World, 2023. Photo: Jacky Jaan Yuan Kuo
Rémy has for several years collected existing visual material, primarily illustrations from old scientific books. Oscillations Between the Very Far and the Very Close, I-VIII (2023), is made up of eight large-scale woven pictures showing enlargements of specific scientific and cosmological illustrations. Rémy has de-contextualised these images by erasing all information, such as text, measurements, and numbers, stripping them of all scientific utility. Instead, Rémy wants the works to appeal to human experience and sensation.
“By juxtaposing representations belonging to disparate disciplines, a new narrative comes to life.”
Samoa Rémy, Nearing Towards the Edge of the World, 2023. Photo: Jacky Jaan Yuan Kuo
In addition, two sculptural installations are shown. In Zeitbild(2021-2023) two large aluminium-reliefs are displayed on partially charred plywood plates with areas filled in with beeswax and cadmium red pigment, resting on two bed-like iron frames. The works draw on alchemical methods and examine the dynamic interaction between materials. Through extreme heat, the character of the metal changes from solid to liquid, and the wood begins to burn the moment molten metal hits the veneer. Ametriton (2020-2023) consists of four bronze sculptures and three wooden negative forms integrated in a beech-wood table, with areas filled with beeswax and ultramarin pigment. Rémy created the bronze forms using the process of simultaneous moulding / burning / casting developed for Zeitbild.
Samoa Rémy, Nearing Towards the Edge of the World, 2023. Photo: Jacky Jaan Yuan Kuo
Bio
Samoa Rémy was born in 1974 in Mendrisio, Switzerland and has been based in Oslo for more than twenty years. Rémy works with several artistic media like installation, drawing, prints, sculpture and video. In 2013 she initiated a collaboration with CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2020 she was awarded with an Honorary Mention for Collide International, which resulted in a residency at CERN. Since 2018, she has been exploring several topics between art and science and astrophysical phenomena, in relation to her overarching PhD-research in artistic practice, entitled Layers of Darkness and Light.
Some of Rémy’s recent exhibitions include the collective screening The Art of Mirrors at Atelier Nord in Oslo (2023) and screening of the video work Runde at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2022). Other exhibitions include Colony Collapse Disorder at Sonnenstube, in Lugano, Switzerland (2016); Substratum at Jugendstilsenteret, Kunstmuseet KUBE, Ålesund, Norway (2015); Division Leads To Multiplication, at Museo Cantonale d'Arte in Lugano, Switzerland, (now MASI Lugano) (2014); Ante Verbum at La Rada, Spazio per l’Arte Contemporanea in Locarno, Switzerland (2011); Along the Axis of the Mind at Norske Grafikere, Oslo (2011). Her work is included in public collections such as the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo; The Art Collection of Canton Zürich (Switzerland); and the Art Collection of Manor, Basel (Switzerland).
Rémy is currently working on a public commission for Oslo Municipality’s new Emergency Ward.