Per Fronth
Per Fronth (born 1963) is a well-known Norwegian contemporary artist and former photojournalist. He is recognized for his large mixed-media artworks that combine photography and painting. His work often focuses on powerful themes such as conflict, identity, and the human condition.
Fronth starts with real photographs—often taken in challenging environments like war zones or remote rainforests—and transforms them into paintings. By blending documentary images with artistic expression, he creates unique and emotionally charged pieces that go beyond traditional photography or painting.
Some of his most notable exhibitions include Xingu Chronicles (New York, 1998), which looked at the lives of Indigenous people in the Brazilian rainforest, and Bloodlines (London, 2001), about the controversial English foxhunt, featuring figures like Prince Charles. His major series Theatre of War focused on the war in Afghanistan, including Norwegian soldiers and the complex role of Western countries in fragile democracies.
In 2009, Fronth was chosen as the Nobel Peace Prize artist, designing the Nobel diploma for U.S. President Barack Obama.
His art is known for sparking thought and conversation. Using photography as a starting point, he creates works that are both beautiful and challenging, offering a fresh and powerful voice in contemporary art.
Conflict (House of Lights)
Mixed Media, Oil on MDF
94 x 60 cm / 37 x 23 in
This piece is from a series called Conflict where I used ballerinas as metaphors of agility, beauty and the evident suffering that comes along as the toll of training and performances comes to show. We are all trying to become the best version of ourselves. It brings us joy and self-respect.Yet, we must build strength to counter the forces, often from the inside, pulling us down.The ballerina is much more than pure aesthetic; the swirling music expressed through a body in a theatre. She is us, a symbol of energy, of light and everyday conflicts.
Spring ( Performance)
From the Archipelago series
Mixed media, oil on MDF
40 x 61 cm / 16 x 23 in
Spring (Performance)
A study for a larger commission about the time of renewal. A young female figure, a girl, is playing or rather, involving a goose in her act. The wild goose participates and adheres to the youngsters instructions and gentle movements in the afternoon setting Sun by the sea in southern Norway. It’s an attempt to make a statement about the relationship between us humans and the animal worlds- forever connected. And to question our constant desire to rule the world.
Conflict / Target / Inner Peace! (Study)
Mixed media, oil on MDF
Conflict / Target
A small study from the ballerina-series. Looking out towards the horizon a target of sorts is introduced behind the figurine together with the hardedged lines of black and yellow - in nature a signal of danger - adapted by humans in workplaces as a sign of equal danger. The sea is very important to me. I grew up in a small town in southern Norway in Scandinavia, surrounded by sea life, swimming, sailing, diving and bonfires in the archipelago with light almost all night long. My father was a merchant marine during WWII fighting the Nazi-regime. My pride for him - and the influence he had on me from telling tales from across the world, ignited my interest in humans and travel.You can travel to every corner of the planet - and to every cell in your body. Both are equally rewarding.
Inner Peace / Wedding View
From the Archipelago Series
Mixed Media, Oil on MDF
51 x 40 cm / 20 x 16 in
There are moments in life that change the trajectory of the path we undertake, or had planned to execute. On the morning of Sep 11 2001 I woke up in my loft in Tribeca, New York caused by a tremendous thunder from an explosion.Thus commenced the most horrific day of my life. I was changed forever after by the spectacular terror attack. In the following months I sailed across the Atlantic in a sailboat- to get away from it all.The sea-scape in this dip-tych is from the middle of the Atlantic ocean.The journey leading to this artwork, many, many years later. A young woman, a friend of mine, is about to get married, it ́s her Day before the Day. The wedding dress is fit and aligned. A new direction is about to be carved out for her and her coming husband's life. Contemplating the circumstances; the Now, Before and the After. We are all adrift. The sum of all moments.
Sound of Light / Nordenskiold Glacier (Svalbard)
Mixed media, oil on MDF 40 x 24 cm / 16 x 9 in
Sound of Lights
Often I deliberately create works where I confront images to create a new kind of imagery. The world we live in has us drowned in a landslide of constant images - it is an inspiration and a curse. All my images are based on my own travels. They are authentic works. And that is paramount in order to create art as an eye-witness of my time here on Earth. In this work the melting Nordenskiold glacier in Svalbard, and island group in the far, far North is juxta-positioned against a woman on a sup-board in the afterglow of the Sun. An overall calm holds the images together in a symbiotic manner. But it is a false tranquility. The temperature is rising all over the world, leading to new aggressive, and unpredictable weather patterns and events across the globe; snow melting rapidly on the poles. In the end reaching the streets and people ie. of New Orleans and my hometown Kristins and as well.