VIKING NEPTUN

Congratulations to Eidesvik! Today was the name-giving ceremony of Viking Neptun, Eidesvik´s newest and biggest and most beautiful and modern ship! I was very honored to be selected to help decorate this ship.

The architects have done a great job here, I was even invited along to a creative meeting with them and the furniture-supplier last year, when the ship was still being built. The whole ship is more modern and sleek in the design, especially the interior. I´ve tried to live up to that in my own art. It is still unmistakably my signature style, but this time a lot of the pictures are printed directly on acrylic plexi-glas, with no frames. High-gloss (like glass obviously) surface and slightly different shapes and sizes than I usually work with.

“Greenstone axes”, 100×150 cm

The big picture in the mess. (You will have to excuse the reflection in the glass, the entire wall opposite is glass-lined. )

The motif is of a small island called Hespriholmen, outside the south-western coast of Bømlo. This is Europe´s longest continuos industrial-site: during the stone-age, excavation of a very strong stone was done here, over a time-period of 6 000 years! The phallic shapes at the bottom of the picture are an actual green-stone axe made in the stone-age.

The raku-ceramic arrow-heads on the side of the picture are enlargements of another archeological find in the south of Bømlo: small arrowheads made in the same period.

And to continue the history of Bømlo, we enter the lounge, and a second, great period in the marine history: when the vikings conquered the seas, and travelled as far as Canada, Turkey, North Africa and Russia. Norway was first Christened and gathered as one nation by king Olav, who came ashore at Moster, Bømlo.

“The viking era”, wallpaper ca 220x350cm

This picture hints to the age, which was more about trading than war-fare and plunder, with the stem of a viking ship, sailing in between the islands in the Southern part of Bømlo. This picture is  blown up in size, and printed as wallpaper. It fills an entire wall! The sofa is in front of it, so you can´t see that it actually goes from ceiling to floor. It´s huge! And it certainly does something to the room.

Around the corner is another picture:

“A bird in the hand”, 60×90 cm

This is from the islands outside Gjeitung. Personally I really like this picture, the richness of the colors, the simplicity of the design.

Moving on, a couple of doors down, is the conference room.

“Slåtterøy calling” 50x150cm

It´0s big and beautiful. So stylish with slender and sleek chairs, all dark grey, except for one sea-green. A big screen on a dark-grey wall. The first wall EVER I´ve seen onboard a modern ship with a different color than off-white! So cool! So refreshing!

Across the hall we find the heli-reception/game-room. In other words the room where the crew waits to board the helicopter upon departure, and also where they can watch film is  big stress-less-chairs.

“Southern Sunnhordland”, 70x100cm

Let´s move to another floor. On our way down we find this little boy:

“A little boy with a big dream”, 50x60cm

To visually mark the difference in the floors of this huge ship, we´ve decorated each stair-landing.

This little boy dreams of becoming a sailor when he grows up. Next to him is a sea-house with his motto: Make waves!

I like to add at least some pieces of art in totally different materials. This house is made of oxidized copper, with oxidized copper- and brass mesh and silk organza.

“Companie 1793”, 50×75 cm

Down on A-deck we find two lobbies, one on each side of the ship. This yellow picture adorns the starboard side. Whenever the ship is at dock, everyone will enter though one of these lobbies.

Moving even further down, on the Main-deck, we come to the propellor-control-room, which is a very busy office. But there is room for a small piece of art by the copying machine:

“Solitare”, 40x50cm

And a little further down the corridor, we find a conference table in the drawing doc office, mainly used by the clients.

“Barrell of fun”, 70x70cm

Also in the same corridor is a room where I hope no-one will need to be much: the hospital.

“Medication”, 50x60cm

In addition to these pictures in the common areas, I made pictures for some of the cabins. Seven for the bigger cabins, and thirty-one for the smaller cabins.

“The Lobster-farm”, 35x70cm

“Gjeitung”, 50x70cm

“Ulstein”, 40x50cm

“Summer sunset”, 50x60cm

“Røyksund”, 40x50cm

“…and dream of the sea”, 35 x70 (this is one of the two that ended up in the Captain´s cabin)

“Shallow seas”, 50x60cm

For the smaller cabins, I used the entire Family-life pictures, altered and printed on plexi-glas. And then still ten more, seen below.

“Port Townsend”, 35x70cm

“Siggjo”, 35x70cm

“Lime walk”, 35x70cm

“Danish beach”, 35x70cm

“Slåtterøy sunset”, 35x70cm

“Afternoon”, 35x70cm

“Blue door of Antigua”, 35x70cm

“Turquoise door of Antigua”, 35x70cm

“Austevoll”, 35x70cm

“Deep sea”, 35x70cm

I was not alone to decorate this ship. The owners asked me to recommend a couple of other artists as well, for variation in the art. My choice fell on two of my friends and collegues

Brian Wallace, (acrylic paint) here represented with a boat-house in the stairs.

Jan-Willy Folgerø-Holm, (acrylic paint) here with a picture in the smokers lounge.

Also, there was a large group of children contributing to making the ship into a home for those who work onboard. Eidesvik has a club for children with parents and relatives connected to the company, and they made some beautiful paintings for the ship. These two above (painted by Anders and Andrea Samnøy) decorate one of the corridors.

Below are exerts from one of the brochures about the ship, with all it´s vital facts and figures.

And an interview/article in the company-magazine about the Children´s Group art day: