Fable (Baba)

Oil on canvas

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.

The work is part of Båsen’s Fable series, where 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.

Unique
NOK 90,000.00
+ 5% art tax

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 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.

2025
(group) upcoming, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, NO
2025
The Present (group), QB Gallery, Oslo, NO
2024
Mirrorscape, QB Gallery, Oslo, NO
2024
Gjenfortryllet (group), Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, NO
2023 - 2024
Enter Art Fair (group), Lokomotivværkstedet, Copenhagen, DK
2023
Bjørn Båsen og Ragna Breivik (duo), Oceana Kunstsenter, Os, NO
2023
Sølvpust (group), Oceana Kunstsenter, Os, NO
2023
Tales we tell (group), QB Gallery, Oslo, NO
2022
Mythos (solo), Nitja, Lillestrøm, NO
2022
30 Grader i Februar (gruppe), QB Gallery, Oslo, NO
2021
Ghosts (solo), Galleri LNM, Oslo, NO
2020
A Dream Within a Dream (gruppe), QB Gallery, Oslo, NO
2020
Olje og Begjær (gruppe), QB Gallery og Blomqvist Kunsthandel, Oslo, NO
2019
Hjemmets skatter (gruppe), Blaafarveværket, Modum, NO
2018
125 Objects, Choices, Stories (group), Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, NO
2018
What Wood Would (group), Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, NO
2017
Surrealismen (gruppe), Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum, Tromsø, NO
2017
Solo, Galleri Brandstrup, Oslo, NO
2017, 2013, 2011, 2009
I tråd med tiden (gruppe), Haugar Kunstmuseum, Tønsberg, NO
2013
God natt da du - : Surrealisme i Norsk Kunst, Stenersen Museet, Oslo, NO
2010
The Solo Project (group), Basel, SW
2010
Lights On (group), Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, NO
2008

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