Inger Johanne Grytting & Mimi Gross 'On Art and Friendship'

The artistic practices of Inger Johanne Grytting and Mimi Gross can be seen as diametrically different. Grytting is known for her minimalist drawings and paintings, subdued in colour, while Gross unfolds with expressive colours in her renderings of people and landscapes. Despite such differences, but partly also because of them, it makes sense to show their works together. The background for the exhibition is primarily a friendship between the two that has spanned several decades and created artistic connections in the environment in New York of which they are both a part.

The North Norwegian artist Inger Johanne Grytting (b. 1949, Svolvær) lived in Tromsø for much of her early years and young adulthood. In 1972 she moved to New York, where she has remained, although her ties to northern Norway have always been strong. Grytting has an extensive exhibition practice behind her, and is represented in many public and private collections.

In addition to her art practice, Grytting has worked for over forty years with her husband Mark Mirsky on the journal ‘Fiction’, he as text editor and she as image editor. In connection with this work, they have created connections between international writers and visual artists. One of them is fellow artist Mimi Gross.

Mimi Gross (b. 1940, New York) has a versatile artistic practice which includes, among other things, painting, drawing, scenography and costume design. Gross has had exhibitions in the USA as well as in Europe and Japan. Between 1960 and 1976, she worked with Red Grooms on a series of large, multidimensional installations, one being the legendary ‘Ruckus Manhattan’. Ever since 1979, she has collaborated with the dancer Douglas Dunn and his company as a scenographer and costume designer.

This is the first time Inger Johanne Grytting and Mimi Gross are exhibiting together.

The exhibition is curated by Marianne Hultman and Torill Østby Haaland.

We would like to thank the art museum Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum and Erling Neby for generous loans of works by Inger Johanne Grytting.

Photo: Kjell Ove Storvik.