Both works are part of Båsen’s Fable series, in which he draws on motifs inspired by fairy tales and renders them in a pictorial world marked by both beauty and unease. Fairy tales are often associated with escapism, yet they originally functioned as mirrors of important themes that were otherwise left unspoken. This underlying duality gives the stories an inherent realist dimension, which Båsen brings to the forefront in his art.

Bjørn Båsen, Fable (Red), 2025, 70 x 60 cm

Little Red Riding Hood is one of the oldest European fairy tales and can be traced back more than 2,500 years. Over time, the story has been retold in countless versions, from brutal narratives to moral lessons and later children’s tales. Each version carries traces of its own era, revealing how fairy tales function as living archives of collective imagination. In Båsen’s pictorial world, the story gains a new interpretation, where layers of tradition, fear, and innocence converge in an expression that looks both back to cultural history and into the visual culture of the present.

Bjørn Båsen, Fable (Baba), 2025, 70 x 60 cm

Here Båsen draws on Baba Yaga, the fearsome witch figure from Slavic fairy tale traditions. She appears in many stories as a grotesque character living in a hut on chicken legs, roaming the forest in search of children. Through this motif, Båsen introduces a layer of popular mythology that has profoundly shaped Eastern Europe’s storytelling tradition. The painting underscores how such dark figures both frighten and fascinate, and how they function as images of fear, morality, and survival.

Fable (Red) and Fable (Baba) were exhibited at Enter Art Fair in Copenhagen in 2025.

Bjørn Båsen (b. 1981, Eggedal, Norway) has a BA from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth and an MA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.

Båsen’s works invite the spectator into a whole new world. His skillful perspectives make one feel as though you could take a leap and fall into his illusion of a blissful wonderland. However, in his world of porcelain puzzles, cracks are always present and propped with references to deep and often dark matters. Båsen’s oeuvre is filled with references to mythology, past and present decadence – the fairytales of former glory meet the realism of today.

His work is included in the collection of the National Museum of Norway, the Astrup Fearnley Museum, KODE Art Museum, Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum, the National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, The Grieg Art Collection, Equinor Art Programme, oslo Kommune Art Collection, Stavanger Kommune Art Collection, DNB as well as numerous private collections nationally and abroad.