Art in Charlottenlund Kindergarten

Artist: Nirmal Singh Dhunsi 2004/2005. Art consultant: Erlend Leirdal.

Nirmal Singh Dhunsi, originally from India, arrived in Norway in the early 1980s, and for many years he has combined traditional Indian art expression with modern western impulses. In his work he has blended mythological themes from the East with symbols from the entertainment industry of the West, not least cartoon characters. The shared cultural traditions of East and West, where animals are personified and anthropomorphised, are seen in the installation of two large toy animals in Charlottenlund kindergarten. The two lions, each of which is a metre high, have been made using a mixed technique where ‘fur’ is produced by painted and knitted yarn, and both lions are depicted as cheerful. For the remainder of the work of art, the artist has employed his usual techniques, drawing and painting. In one room there are 33 round pictures, painted on canvas which have been glued onto wooden plates. All but one are 30 cm in diameter, whilst the remaining picture is much larger, 122 cm in diameter, and forms a visual centre in the series of pictures. In one room we find the toddler group Smia (The Smithy), and in here the format of the pictures is quadratic, with 62 pictures divided into two series placed close together. Some of the animals are depicted as silhouettes against a pure background colour, and others are depicted more traditionally.