Torbjørn Rødland: The Touch That Made You

This catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibition Torbjørn Rødland: The Touch That Made You at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery (29 September -19 November 2017). Torbjørn Rødland constructs portraits, still lifes and landscapes, which simultaneously inhabit and defamiliarise the realm of the everyday. With a highly constructed and at times fetishistic approach to subjects, objects and materials, Rødland makes photographs that are formally acute, conceptually playful and psychologically evocative. Characterised by their double-edged allegories and underlying lyricism, Rødland's staged scenarios “keep you in the process of looking”, simultaneously revealing layers of discomfort and pleasure. This accompnaying publication offers new and fresh lenses through which to view the artist's work. Walead Beshty's text, titled “Skin Flicks”, focuses on Rødland's unique approach to surfaces, Julie Boukobza considers a number of works in the exhibition by building fictive narratives around them, whilst Diane Nguyen stages a surreal and winding narrative performance through Rødland's image repertoire. Bob Nickas' essay, “Fifteen Years Later” draws upon the experience of looking at Rødland's photographs and provides a visual map of their complex system of symbols, signs and gestures.