Audun Alvestad (b. 1980, Ålesund) has, since graduating from Bergen Academy of the Arts in 2016, distinguished himself within the wave of naive figurative painting. He works primarily with painting and paper, and with materials such as acrylic and watercolour. In Alvestad's artistry, society's gender roles and social structures are explored, and the motifs depict social constellations such as loneliness and collectivism. Through a distinctive and playful painterly idiom, Alvestad reflects the general social life in his immediate surroundings, and often refers to everyday events surrounding the ordinary "man in the street". Alvestad's earlier works are characterized by intimate spaces and close actions, where the viewer is almost invited to participate. The themes in the works often reflect interpersonal, delicate and tragicomic scenes that the viewer can identify with. With a supporting humorous approach, the characters' disarmed charisma invites an unprejudiced respite in the world of the visual arts. In several of the works we witness bearded men on motorbikes, semi-naked people in the park and other characters we witness when we move around the city or visit friends and loved ones. Through the titles of the artworks, Alvestad adds a further dimension to the actions, titles that often make one ponder what we as viewers are actually witnessing. In the later works, the focus is on a different form of social action than we know from earlier. The section is now to a spectator who observes the actions from a distance, with an assumed passivity. The frontal perspective of the paintings gives us a flat view, and the dark coloring makes the actions that unfold more melancholic. In the works, the figures are often shown alone or together with others in scenes where there is little communication. In this way, the works can also be seen as a nod to the communication society where one's biggest focus is oneself.

Alvestad's work is included in a number of private and public collections, including the Bunker Artspace Museum, the Preuss Collection, the Azman Museum and the Drake Collection.

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