a walk around gloppen sculpture park

earlier this summer we took a trip to west norway, the land of mountains and fjords. it involved a fair amount of driving from highlight to highlight of beautiful wild nature but in between we took a number of stops with walks to stretch our legs and take in the lesser known local culture. here is one such walk

welcome to gloppen sculpture park

gloppen sculpture park in the town of byrkjelo in west norway is norway's second largest sculpture park. the largest is the well known wigelands park in oslo which is one of norway's mest visited attractions. this park is on a much smaller scale and much newer. all the sculptures are created by the local artist stig eikaas

the park is spread across both sides of the river, the sculptures are often formed as caricatures, many humoristic but some more serious and thought provoking

the subjects range from ancient greek and roman mythology, here with sisyphus rolling his stone of punishment up the mountain

and gaia, the personification of mother earth

and the roman nature and woodland pagan god pan

christopher columbus was the first to be unveiled during the inauguration of the park in 2008. the park is continually growing as the very much alive ans somewhat controversial artist adds works when he sees fit to do so

there are a variety of expressions and styles ranging from abstract figurative to nonfigurative. the materials are larvikite, granite, slate and steel.

i like how the expression of steel frames changes with the different backgrounds-

the transparency of the skaters is uncanny. at times they are barely visible

shop to you drop. i'm not sure if the the tiltle should have been 'shop til you drop' but at any rate it is clearly a jab at the meaninglessness of excessive consumerism

there is even a sculpture in the river. originally it was a board with the text: i don't like all this art but that text has disappeared

on the other side of the river, ensomhet, loneliness is depicted as an empty low rigid ascetic chair at the end of a dominating empty table

slangen 1, the snake 1 is the first of several variations of the reptile

the title husdyra i gloppen, domestic animals of the county applies to several sculptures of animals spread out on the lawn, here a sheep

and a nice rendition of a dog

many of the works are of prominent figures in norwegian history and culture. harald hårfagre harald hairfair was the king who unified norway to become one nation in the 800s. he got his name from his oath to not cut his hair or beard before he had accomplished the unification of the land

he looks better from a lower and with the mountainside in the background

kjartan slettemark var en kjent norwegian-swedish artist known for his expressive style and scathing critical political works

nikolai astrup was a famous norwegian artist known for his colorful landscapes of west norway.

that was just a sampling of the many works in a fun walk around this curious park with an imaginative dose of culture and history. thanks for joining me.