2023
Since the 1970s, artist Oddvar Torsheim has always had a sketchbook with him, whether he is at home, out on his daily walks, in the store or on a trip. In these, he diligently notes down ideas, small texts and sketches that can later become works of art. He has kept the sketchbooks, totaling over 400, safe.
Now Torsheim has gone through this rich material together with book designer Silje Nes. Several thousand pages have been compressed into a collection of sketches, where you will recognize some as familiar works, while others reveal more unknown sides of the diverse and beloved multi-artist Oddvar Torsheim.
Ulyzes presents the artist's wild assemblage of thoughts and ideas in drawings and lines, but also through a longer conversation with Torsheim's good friend Jon Fosse. The two art lovers meet for a long weekend in Austria to exchange words about life, death, the church and chemistry, and the reader gets close to the two in this personal conversation.
"This book gives us another entrance to a different kind of artistry through the sketchbooks. Very neatly presented with fine facsimiles. A chaotic material has been given an orderly and rhythmic packaging. The structure and flow of the book provide nice dynamics."
"Perhaps what I enjoy most is the Nynorsk language, in the book, and with these two artists in general. It's a joy to read – regardless of what they talk and write about."
"In Ulyzes, Oddvar Torsheim and Jon Fosse appear as two wise guys worth listening to. They have also become witty wordsmiths, in each other's company."
