source: hansalf

Fredrik Raddums (b. 1973) distinct, eye-catching works will put a smile on your face and give you food for thought. The young Norwegian artist lives and works in Oslo and works with sculpture, installation, photo and performance related journeys.

Primarily Fredrik Raddum works with sculpture and installation art. His art is best described as tongue-in-cheek, humorous, and immediately relevant. His works often feature animals, people, and elements culled from the Norwegian countryside and popular culture. Grafted from shiny, smooth materials, the works can appear to be romantically tinged Pop art at first glance, but closer inspection reveals that the motifs have a firmly embedded serious side with a sharp, socially indignant and satirical bite. Fredrik Raddums use of materials and formal language is entirely unique: With his seemingly innocuous works he addresses existentialist and political themes with a vibrant sense of humour and a keen eye for the absurd.

Fredrik Raddum lives and work in Oslo. He works with sculpture, installation, photo and performance related journeys. He has exhibited at various spaces since 1999.

Raddum popularizes serious themes and embodies them in tragicomic animal and human figures that resemble cartoon characters. Clichés and icons are twisted and turned in to new settings. Instead of thrusting their critical attitude down one’s throat, Raddum’s sculptures drop subtle hints encouraging one to think beyond the initial encounter.
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source: brandstrupno

Fredrik Raddum is educated at the National Academy of Art in Oslo, Norway and is known for his figurative sculpture and installation art.

Since ancient times, artists have tried to portray human autonomy trough figurative sculpture, with mimesis as the highest goal. In Raddum’s art, one can see how contemporary culture with modern technology has moved past the bases of art as a beautified version of reality. Raddum’s art resembles a dystopian cartoon, as a drawn sculpture from his self-created universe.

Like the pioneering pop artists from the sixties USA, Raddum finds his nihilist motives in image banks of mass media and Western culture. However, as we look closer, the dystopian theme comes forth in his art on a thin line between the tragically and the humorous: with his seemingly harmless works, he addresses existentialist and political themes with a sense of humor and a keen eye for the absurd. There are always a subtle, intelligent social satire in mind without obvious display of critical attitude.

In his art, there are also many similarities to the Neo-Pop Artist Jeff Koons, both in his use of shiny materials, and critical themes such as human consumption. As in Koons’ art, Raddum always drops subtle hints encouraging the viewer to think beyond the initial encounter. The main difference between the two artists is how Raddum actually depicts the consequences and fall of man, whereas Koons only flaunts the glossiness of the objects up til the point of brake.

In later years, Raddum has taken on the Japanese film. The genera “Kaidan Eiga” is known for is movies tragic endings, which stands in contrast with Raddum’s visual language, who makes them seem more like fun fairytales. Most of Raddum’s artworks however, revolves around his favorite subject: the late-modern man’s life and identity.

Fredrik Raddum has been represented by Galleri Brandstrup since 2002.