Author Description

'We play while we practise,' was Sidsel Paaske's motto in life. During her short artistic career, Paaske was always open to new ideas and expressed herself in many different media. She started out as a textile artist, but was quick to break into new 'ism-free' territory. Her innate desire to experiment caused her to throw herself into a range of different styles and she moved freely among different media, including watercolour, oil painting, textiles, enamel, music, text, book illustration, sculpture and jewellery. Paaske was a key figure in Oslo's art scene in the years 1965-80. Her sculpture Brent fyrstikk [Extinguised Match] (1966) has been described as Norway's first example of pop art. A variation on the same motif was created 21 years later by Claes Oldenburg, the father of American pop art. Exhibition: Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway (21.10.2016-26.02.2017).