Saturday, October 2

Kaare Berntsen as is 80 years

80 years ago Kaare Berntsen Sr. opened his antiques shop in Kristian August Gate, Oslo. They moved autumn 2009 to Munkedamsveien 62, and opened yesterday evening an exhibition celebrating the 80 years anniversary which we attended together with many others.
On the photo in front of a huge painting by Bjarne Melgaard , you may see Inge Solheim leader antiques dept, Morten Zondag leader art dept and (with mic) Thomas Berntsen MD welcoming the invited guests.
Melgaard was born in Sydney Australia, raised in Norway and works and lives in New York. Early in his career Melgaard created controversial installations referencing subversive subcultures such as S&M and Heavy metal music. Currently, his practice consists of an emphasis on expressionistic paintings and drawings, often containing text.
The price of Melgaard´s painting on the photo is 1.5 mill nok. and with a size that I call museums or institution-decorating art.
Some years ago Kaare Berntsen sold this painting by Thore Heramb to a price of only 5% of Melgaard´s painting. In addition Heramb´s "Autumn Landscape" has a size that can hang in an ordinary home.
One of the paintings you may find attractive at Kaare Berntsen´s walls today is Andy Warhol´s portrait of Mic Jagger. Go and have a look (and bring your creddit card too).

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