Torbjørn Rødland (b. 1970, Stavanger, Norway) makes photographic images that pointedly address their viewers, evoking a wide range of emotional and intellectual states. Curiosity, humor, criticality, artifice, reverence for the natural world, and romanticism appear throughout his work and often in the same image. Rødland also emphasizes the formal attributes of his photographs, pushing the medium toward modes of visual expression more commonly associated with painting, and forging links between twentieth-century art photography and twenty-first-century approaches to image-making common to advertising and social media. Often prompted by non-photographic imagery that he transforms into real-world photographic subjects, Rødland portrays scenes designed to generate psychological reaction through his depiction of highly sensory qualities. The physicality present in the work is driven by his use of film-based cameras and chemical darkroom processes.

Torbjørn Rødland has been the subject of solo exhibitions including Oh My God You Guys, Le Consortium, Dijon, France (2023); Bible Eye, The Contemporary Austin, Texas (2021); Fifth Honeymoon, a traveling exhibition produced as a collaboration between Bergen Kunsthall, Norway, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki (2018–2019); THE TOUCH THAT MADE YOU, Fondazione Prada, Milan (2018) and the Serpentine, London (2017); Back in Touch, C/O Berlin (2017); and Blue Portrait (Nokia N82), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2016). Notable group exhibitions include Before Tomorrow – Astrup Fearnley Museet 30 Years, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway (2023); What People Do for Money, Manifesta 11, Zurich (2016); LIT, 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (2016); and 48th Venice Biennale, Italy (1999). His work is in the permanent collections of museums including Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway; Malmö Art Museum, Sweden; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and Museum of Modern Art, New York. Rødland lives and works in Los Angeles.

Chronology

1995 - National College of Art and Design, Bergen, Norway
1991 - Rogakand University Centre, Cultural Studies, Stavenger, Norway

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024
NOW IT SOBS, NOW IT SINGS, STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway

2023
Simple Gifts, Nils Staerk, Copenhagen, Denmark
Oh My God You Guys, curated by Eric Troncy, Le Consortium, Dijon, France
Metal Balm, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Seoul, South Korea
Old Shep, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland

2022
Theatre of Immediacy, Air de Paris, Paris, France
Pain in the Shell, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2021
Bible Eye, The Contemporary Austin, Austin, TX
More Than Tongue Can Tell, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland

2020
Reset, ST ANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway

2019
*Fifth Honeymoon, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden; Museum of
Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland

2018
Backlit Rainbow, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA *Fifth Honeymoon, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway
*The Touch That Made You, organized by Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy

2017
Back in Touch, C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany
*The Touch That Made You, organized by Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London, England
Fence Studies / Wordless, Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, Denmark
Birthday Sleep, Air de Paris, Paris, France
First Abduction Attempt and Other Photographs, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, New York, NY

2016
Blue Portrait (Nokia N82), organized by Elisabeth Sherman, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Matthew Mark Luke John and Other Photographs, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland

2015
Venetian Otaku, Team (Bungalow), Venice, CA
*I Am a Photograph, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium Corpus Dubium, Algus Greenspon, New York, NY
The Face I Found I Will Find Again, STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway *Sasquatch Century, Henie-Onstad Art Centre, Oslo, Norway

2014
The Yellow Shell, Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway 2013 Algus Greenspon, New York, NY
American Photography, Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, Denmark

2012
Before Behind Above Below, Air de Paris, Paris, France

2011
Eighteen Analogue Double Exposures, STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway

2010
A Black Ant Traveling, Michael Benevento, Los Angeles, CA
132 BPM, Studio Exhibition, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
Dearest Kitty, Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, Denmark

2009
Pyromancy, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium Andy Capp Variations, STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway

2008
Flegma, Sørlandet Art Museum, Kristiansand, Norway
Myke Ekko/Soft Echoes, The Festival of North Norway, Harstad, Norway Go to the VIP Room, Air de Paris, Paris, France

2007
Heads Hands Liquids, Michael Benevento, Los Angeles, CA More Whenever Minutes, STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway

2006
Uglesommer, Haugar Art Museum, Tønsberg, Norway
Fantasies Are Facts, Kodama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
The Exorcism of Mother Teresa, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, NY 132 BPM, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY

2005
Dark Overground Light Underground, Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, Denmark

2004
Grave with a View, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg, Sweden;
Herning Kunstmuseum, Herning, Denmark

2003
More Songs, Buildings and Girls, Air de Paris, Paris, France Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Room, Goodnight Breasts, Galleri Wang, Oslo, Norway
*Grave with a View, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo; Rogaland Kunstmuseum, Stavanger, Norway

2002
Black, Ars Futura, Zurich, Switzerland

2001
Priests, Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
White, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Everything as Always, Nils Stærk Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
Rocks, Galleri Wang, Oslo, Norway

1999
Joy inside my Tears, Air de Paris, Paris, France *Even Now, Galleri Wang, Oslo, Norway

1998
*Close Encounter, Arkipilag, The Hallwyl Museum, Stockholm, Sweden 1997 Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje, Sweden

1996
Galleri Wang, Oslo, Norway

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024
Flowers of Romance – Act One, Lodovico Corsini, Brussels, Belgium GROW IT, SHOW IT!, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
Cruella De-vil, Sultana Summer Set, Arles, France
The Secret in Their Eyes, Nassima Landau Art Foundation, Tel Aviv, Israel

2023
*20, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Before Tomorrow – Astrup Fearnley Museet 30 Years, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway

2022
Tiere, Catherine Zeta, Cologne, Germany

2021
*The Beatitudes of Malibu, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA SUN RISE | SUN SET, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany
Wish, Metro Pictures, New York, NY
Someone said that the world’s a stage, Grimm Gallery, New York, NY LA BOHEME, Alfonso Artiaco Gallery, Naples, Italy

2020
Amuse-bouche. The Taste of Art, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland *New Visions: The Henie Onstad Kunstsenter Triennale for Photography and New Media, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway
I Won’t Bite, curated by Brooke Wise, NeueHouse, Los Angeles, CA Ups and Downs - 15 years of STANDARD (OSLO), STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway
Positions on Photography, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, online only Crossing Views, A Selection of Works from The Collection, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
All in One, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
WALKING. Movements North of Bolzano, Museion, Bolzano, Italy
My C art ography. The Erling Kagge Collection, Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid, Spain

2019
Self-preservation, curated by A.G. and Amanda Ross-Ho, Primary., Miami, FL
Studio Photography: 1887-2019, Simon Lee, New York, NY
Lorck Schive Kunstpris, Trondheim kunstmuseum, Trondheim, Norway Prospettiva Arte Contemporanea, Gallerie d’Italia, Milan, Italy
Nordic Impressions Contemporary Art From Åland, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, And Sweden, Scandinavia House, New York, NY
The Gifts of Tony Podesta, curated by Klaus Ottmann and Jennifer Sakai, American University Museum, Washington, D.C.
More, Air de Paris, Paris, France

2018
Mute, Amanda Wilkinson, London, England
Smooth Transitions, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland General Rehearsal, A Show in Three Acts from the Collections of V-A-C, MMOMA and Kadist, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia The Marvellous Cacophony, curated by Danielle Kvaran and Gunnar B. Kvaran, 57th October Salon, Belgrade, Serbia
Faithless Pictures, The National Gallery at The National Museum, Oslo, Norway

2017
Le château des destins croisés, organized by Air de Paris, Chez 11 Columbia, Monaco
Retour sur Mulholland Drive, La Panacée, Montpellier, France
The Photographic I - Other Pictures, curated by Martin Germann, Tanja Boon, and Steven Humblet, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium
Strange Attractors: The Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Art Vol. 1 Life on Earth, organized by Bob Nickas, Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA Trip of The Tongue, curated by Piper Marshall, Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong
Exit, curated by Adam Carr, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Eternal Youth, curated by Omar Kholeif and Grace Deveney, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
Please fasten your seat belt as we are experiencing some turbulence, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai, China
*SNAP. Documentary and Portrait. Photography from the Collection, organized by Eva Klerck Gange, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway WAGSTAFF’S, curated by Richard Cynan Jones, Jane Matthews, and Adam Carr, MOSTYN, Wales

2016
Sinister Feminism, 12th A.I.R. Gallery Biennial, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Send in the Clowns, Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, Denmark
*What People Do for Money, Manifesta 11, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Luma Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland
*Bisou Magique, curated by Yundler Brondino Verlag, Galerie Derouillon, Paris, France
LIT, 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
Freux Follets, Bbb Centre Régional D’Initiatives Art Contemporain, Toulouse, France

2015
Misanthrope-NY, Mathew, New York, NY
Tree House Down, Ibid., Los Angeles, CA
Mon horizontalité, Galerie Untilthen, Paris, France Eat Abstractedly, Mary Mary, Glasgow, Scotland

2014
Natura Lapsa, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France
The Elephant Test, Lothringer13 Städtische Kunsthalle München, Munich, Germany
*Everything falls faster than an anvil, Pace Gallery, London, England Lens Reflex, Thomas Duncan Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Body Issue, Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2013
Sea Salt and Cross Passes, The Modern Institute, Glasgow, Scotland *Altars of Madness, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg; Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France
*Rien faire et laisser rire, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium Standard Escape Routes, STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo, Norway

2012
Lost and Found: Anonymous Photography in Reflection, Ambach & Rice, Los Angeles, CA
Inside the Banana, Algus Greenspon, New York, NY The Crystal Chain, Invisible-Exports, New York, NY

2011
The Eye is a Lonely Hunter: Images of Humankind, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, Germany
Sam Samore, Torbjørn Rødland, Ryan McGinley, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Our House in the Middle of the Street, Maison des Arts de Malakoff, Paris, France
Catalogue of the Exhibition, Triple V, Paris, France Train Fantôme, Cruise & Callas, Berlin, Germany

2010
La Suite, Air de Paris, Paris, France
The Front Room, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2009
Summer Show, Hotel, London, England
Phot(o)bjects, Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, Canada; Lawrimore Project, Seattle, WA
Bäckström/Männikkö/Rødland, Mai 36 Galerie Showroom, Zurich, Switzerland
*N’importe quoi, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France To Be Determined, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, NY

Books from Torbjørn RØDLAND