Anne Schaffer

Between Heaven and Earth

"There is more between heaven and earth than most other places", quoted Darwin P Erlandsen, Dusteforbundets (The Society of Fools) marvellous president. Forgive this somewhat unusual introduction to a deadly serious installation. When textile artist Ragnhild Monsen (1948) called her work of ash and flowering nylon "Memento Mori", I could not help thinking that she did so with a tiny sideways glance at the theme. A theme that encompasses the world of art as well as extremities of human existence. Monsen's "Memento Mori" - (latin: remember you will die) is overwhelmingly present in the ruins of a fire with a pastel coloured sky of flowering "angel hair" nylon threads above.

Normally transient motifs in art are camouflaged like a single rotten grape in a bowl of enticing fruit,as though a wasp has been eating on the grape. It acts as a timeglass when the sand is slowly running out, or discreetly reminds us of our short journey in human form.

Remember you will die,for time passes, and death is found in the midst of life. Death is the antithesis which accentuates the lust for life and the joy of life: enjoy now - whilst you yet can.

So strong is the dualism manifested in Ragnhild Monsen's work. The life energy and positive commitment to life is found in the rich colour, form and dimensions. The antithesis is the ash and the sky. Now it looks as though the sky is going to drop on the ruins of the fire. Or is it the heavenly angelic choir that is coming in to land? Or is it smoke and souls that ascends, like the Phoenix, from the ashes? Dramatically arranged like a tableau from the last century, the scene is laid out here in the white room of the gallery. In the mounds of ashes lie fragments of a studio, the artist's own studio. In this manner new works are created from the ruins. Yes, that imagery I want to keep. A snapshot of life and death, portrayed in a forgiving mood.

The last time Ragnhild Monsen exhibited in Ram Galleri was in 1995,her theme on that occasion was 'Hope'. A rainbow constructed of nylon threads, 500 kg in weight, 10 metre long and 4.5 metres high. Every thread terminated with a thin stainless steel pipe - which clanged like a clock bell. Today, 'Hope' is the altarpiece at Sorreisa Church.

Todays installation is intensive arising, as it does, from a catastrophe. Power, which is always present in Monsen's work, - is even more magnified here.When the materials used are so commonplace, ash and 'angelhair', the effect is even greater.