Fredrik Vaerslev: The Joy of Painting

A close engagement with selected works by Norwegian artist Fredrik Værslev.

This book, published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Neubauer Collegium in the winter of 2026, offers a close look at recent works by Norwegian artist Fredrik Værslev. Eight large-scale paintings, each representing a distinct body of work and conceived as an exercise in geometric abstraction, showcase Værslev's systematic interrogation of abstract art as well as the many methods through which abstraction (and aesthetic taste) can be produced. As Neubauer Collegium Curator Dieter Roelstraete explores in an introductory essay, Værslev employs a conceptual visual language dense with art-world references. Despite the cerebral rigor of his formal concerns, the works are, in fact, heartfelt tributes to the joy of painting.