Tom SANDBERG
Norwegian photographer Tom Sandberg (September 14, 1953 – February 5, 2014) is considered a pioneer within the field of photographic art. He was born in Narvik, Norway, and worked and lived in Oslo.
A master of light in the great photographic tradition, Sandberg worked exclusively with the medium of black-and-white photography, and continued all through his life to create his analogue artwork with its fine hues and tonalities in the darkroom.
A man who was always on the move with his camera, Tom Sandberg explored the surface and depth ratio in a motif to build a both ambiguous and recognisable complex visual reality, through photography as a language of perception.
Retrieving his modest, yet majestic images within the photographic classical genres such as clouds, people on the street, the female nude, airplanes and landscapes, but also abstract subject matter, Sandberg’s remarkable poetic vision is imbued with a strong sense of presence and mystery.
Reknown also for his large-scale prints on various media such as aluminium sheets and canvas, and evocative portraits of the likes of John Cage and Krzysztof Penderecki, Sandberg’s images have the capacity to render an experience of seeing the world anew.
In the early 1970s, Sandberg studied photography at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham, England, where Thomas Joshua Cooper, Paul Hill and Minor White where among his teachers. His early work was one of the first acquisitions of photography by The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, and he paved the way for photography within the art-world in Norway.
Sandberg’s international recognition had its peak with the solo exhibition at MoMa PS1, New York, in 2007. His work is found in a number of museums as well as public and private collections, such as the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, the The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, and Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
Chronology
Lived and worked in Oslo, Norway, and Paris, France.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2015 Diptyk/Tom Sandberg, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, NO
2014 Photographs, OSL Contemporary, Oslo, NO
2011 Uten tittel - 2004-2010, Oslo Central Station, Oslo, NO
2011 Nyere Arbeider – Fotografi, Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Lillehammer, NO
2010 Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, DK
2010 Galleri OSL Contemporary, Oslo, NO
2009 Galleri Trafo, Asker, NO
2007 Kivik Start, Kivik Art Center, SE, Pavillions with Snøhetta Architects
2007 Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE
2007 Tom Sandberg: Photographs 1989 – 2006, MoMa PS1, New York, US
2007 Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, DK
2007 Galleri Riis, Oslo, NO
2006 Galerie Anhava, Helsinki, FI
2005 The Festival of North Norway, Festival artist of the year, NO
2004 Galleri Riis, Oslo, NO
2003 Galleri Nordenhake, Stockholm, SE
2002 Galleri Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, DK
2001 Galleri Riis, Oslo, NO
2000 The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, NO
1998 Galleri Sølvberget, Stavanger, NO
1998 Gothaer Kunstforum, Cologne, (with Per Inge Bjørlo) DE
1998 Galleri Riis, Oslo, NO
1997 Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, (with Per Inge Bjørlo) NO
1995 Galleri Riis, Oslo, NO
1994 Galleri Sølvberget, Stavanger, NO
1993 Fotogalleriet, Oslo, NO
1989 Galleri Riis, Oslo, NO
1987 Bergens Kunstforening, NO
1986 Image Gallerie, Århus, DK
1985 Henie - Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, NO
1984 Galerie du Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, BE
1984 Galerie Junod, Lausanne, FR
1980 Fotogalleriet, Oslo, NO
1979 Photographs from “ExPosition” - Maricio Kagel, Incram Centre
1979 Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR
1979 Galleri Annen Etasje, Haugesund, NO
Selected Group Exhibitions
2016 Slow Pictures – Contemporary photography, Lillehammer Art Museum, Lillehammer, NO
2015 Contemporary Photography form North-West Europe. Tom Sandberg. Around Myself, Foro Boario,
Fondazione Fotografia Modena, Modena, IT
2015 From Vision Machines to Instagram, Preus Museum, Horten, NO
2014 Crossroads. Lillehammer Art Museum, Lillehammer, NO
2012 I Wish This Was A Song. Music in Contemporary Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art Oslo, Oslo, NO
2012 Paintings – Face to Face – Works from the Collection of the Kuntsi Foundation and the Swanljung Collection,
Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa, FI
2011 Erling Neby Collection, Heine Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden, NO
2011 Works of Art from the Vexi Salmi Collection, Rauma Art Museum, Rauma, FI
2010 Thrice upon a time – Magasin 3, Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm, SE
2010 Bloody Serious, Bergen Art Museum, Bergen, NO
2009 Works on paper, Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, DK
2009 Spellbound m. Daniel Burén, Monaco
2009 Latte in Watte, Galleri Riis, Oslo, NO
2009 Reality Revisited, Moderna Museet i Stockholm, SE
2008 Tom Sandberg/Stefano Casciani, Galleria Artra, Milan, IT
2007 People Take Pictures of each other..., Lamontagne Gallery, Boston, US
2007 Birds, Dwight Hackett Projects, Santa Fe
2007 Nordeas Art Collection, Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden, NO
2007 Modern Norwegian Art Photography, The Stenersen Museum, Oslo, NO
2007 Private. Living with Contemporary Art, Galleri F15, Moss, NO
2006 Summer, Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, DK
2006 Astrup Fearnley Collection – Photo and Video, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, NO
2004 Nordic Images, Galeria Elba Benitez, Madrid, ES
2003 Ronce noire, Galerie Catherine Bastide, Brussels, BE
2003 Focus – 160 years of Photography, Bergen Art Museum, Bergen, NO
2002 Ronce noire, Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris, FR
2001 Å bygge en samling- samlingens vekst, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo, NO
2001 Monotypien – Radierungen – Photogravuren, Niels Borch jensen Galerie & Verlag, Berlin, DE
2000 2000 words: musings on the medium, TPW-Toronto Photographers Workshop, Toronto, CA
2000 Photogravüre, Niels Borch jensen Galerie & Verlag, Berlin, DE
1999 80/90 Mirrors of our Time – Works from the collection of the Oslo National Museum,
CAC-Contemporary Art Center Vilnius, Vilnius, LT
1998 Norske Profiler, Museum Folkwagn, Essen; Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock, DE
1998 Fönster mot Gården, curated by Sune Nordgren, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, SE
1994 Norfotart, Museum of Contemporary Art, Warsawa, PO
1993 Sandberg / Nils Aas - Portretter, Villa Fridheim, Krøderen, NO
1993 Posisjoner I, Fotogalleriet, Oslo, NO
1993 Statens Kunstutstilling, invited, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, NO
1993 Verden Er, Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Lillehammer, NO; Hasssel-bladsenteret, Göteborg, SE;
Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, DK
1991 Sandberg / Serck-Hanssen - Splint, Kunstneres Hus, Oslo, NO
1987 Simulo, Norwegian Contemporary Photography, Oslo, NO
1987 Ten Norwegian Photographers, Norge´87, Göteborg, SE; Austin, TX, US
1986 Skandinavisk fotografi, The Museum of Art, Düsseldorf, DE
1985 Dialogue on Contemporary Art, The Gulbekian Museum, Lisboa, PT
1984 Eksponert, Fotogalleriet / UKS, Oslo, NO
1984 Zeitgenössische Europäische Fotografie, Schaffhausen, CH
1984 La Photographie Créative, Pavillon des Arts, Paris, FR
1984 Deuxième Triennale de Photographie, Galerie du Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, BE
1982 Biennale Internazionale di Fotografia, Caserta, IT
1982 Nio norske fotografer, Camera Obscura, Stockholm, SE
1982 The Frozen Image, Scandinavia Today; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; International Center of Photography,
New York, US; Fredrick S. Wright Gallery, University of California, L.A.US, Portland Art Museum; The Museum
of Contemporary Art, Chicago, US; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington, US; Kjarvalsstadir,
Reykjavik, IS; Taidehalli, Helsinki, FI; Fotografiska Museet, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE;
Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, NO
1981 Northern Lights, The Photographic Gallery, Cardiff, UK
1981 Norsk Samtidsfotografi, Robert Meyer Samlinger, Reykjavik, IS
1979 Fotografi her og nå, Henie - Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, NO
1979 Sandberg / Parslow, Ibsenhuset, Skien, NO
1978 Tusen och en Bild, Fotografiska Museet, Stockholm, SE
1978 Statens Kunstutstilling, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
1977 Sandberg / Parslow, Henie - Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, NO
