13.04.2019–16.08.2020
Ring Gallery

Per Dybvig

Opening: Fr, 12 April 2019, 7pm

The drawings of Norwegian artist Per Dybvig depict the everyday; often snippets from quieter, quotidian moments. The artist has been invited to spend some time in Salzburg to draw the city and its inhabitants. Himself an unimposing type, he has done his rounds in the cafés, bars and the streets of Salzburg. Like an observer and story-teller of times past, Per is often sitting in a corner, half-invisible, sketching. With discretion and an empathetic eye, he illustrates the people and scenarios before him, revealing a tender humanity on the one hand, and offering an offbeat antidote to the faster-paced mechanisms of our time.

All of the drawings that we see in the Ringgalerie were originally produced here in Salzburg. The artist has copied them by hand in larger format, and has also added to them here and there, extending lines directly onto the walls.

Each drawing is a “live action” drawing. Per Dybvig did not make these drawings from memory but rather he made them while discreetly standing or sitting near his subjects. The drawing from the Wienerstand for example, which makes references to an anecdote involving Clint Eastwood, was done as Per himself stood at the counter and consumed his lunch. Likewise the several drawings from cafes and restaurants (whether Café Bazar, Café Sacher or other locations) were done over patient hours while the artist quietly watched people (and sometimes their pets), then sketched some of them ardently, but with purpose and careful attention.

In total we are presented with a portrait of Salzburg and its inhabitants today throughout the four long walls of the Ringgalerie. As one strolls through this hall of drawings, one might chance upon people one knows or are visually familiar with. There is simultaneously a healthy sense of humor together with a gentle eye upon humanity in this overall portrait. This is a glimpse at the living culture of Salzburg, that while being composed of people who very much inhabit the present, still retains a certain whimsical nostalgia and a good amount of irreverent charm.

A limited edition of one of Per Dybvig’s drawings, produced by the Salzburger Kunstverein, is available. A catalogue with the drawings is available. You can purchase it in our shop.

Per Dybvig (*1964, Stavanger) lives and works in Berlin and Stavanger. The award-winning artist has worked as a cartoonist for Norwegian newspapers and has illustrated more than eighty books. His book illustrations include books by Per Inge Torkelsen, the children’s book series Svein og rotta by Marit Nicolaysen, the series on Doktor Proktor by Jo Nesbø, and children's books by Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Trond Brænne and Torgeir Rebolledo Pedersen. Per Dybvig is represented by Galerie Christine König, Vienna and Galleri Opdahl, Stavanger.