For her first solo exhibition at QB Gallery, Oslo based artist Jorunn Hancke Øgstad presents a series of new paintings. The show's title, ACID JAZZ, refers to the music genre that originated in the London Club Scene in the late 80's, but also points to the artist's way of dissolving the language of abstract painting. The assorted elements of the works are broken down and released from their original references to form new interpretations.

Miscellaneous techniques, gestures and ways of applying color dyes compose the motif of characters on the surface. By pushing the boundaries and experimenting with the rules set by our cultural history, Hancke Øgstad is deliberately making her works difficult to define.

What appears to be is not necessarily so. What looks like a thick brushstroke is not the heroic gesture it appears as trails of paint are carefully constructed and authentic gestures are applied to look mechanically printed. The different elements of the paintings indicate a hesitance towards their own behavior or identity. By complicating the identity of the components as well as the distinction between them, the paintings disguise themselves as false.

The distinct format of the paintings winks to domesticity and comments on the relationship between image and object. The paintings are aware that they operate as both. A few works are combined into larger pieces where the gaps between the individual canvases connect the fragments within the frames. This structure suggests that the medium of meaning is in the comparison of the fragments in the modulation and separation of the various elements at hand.

When successful, Hancke Øgstad's paintings invite the viewer to look at the works in a new manner by slowly connecting methods which postpone conclusions. Often fueled by humor, this seemingly random use of shapes and acidic colors create an association with the remote imagery of the 90's. While pointing to the long-lived history of the medium her paintings push forward by insisting on endurance.

Jorunn Hancke Øgstad (b.1979) lives and works in Oslo and Berlin. She has exhibited at various galleries and institutions, including UKS (2010), Oslo Kunstforening (2011), Galleri Christian Torp (2011), NoPlace (2014), Lynx (2014); and at RHC in New York (2015)