Magnhild’s works are often based on photographs and found objects. She examines how the feeling of reality is conveyed through other media such as film and literature, and she processes the photographs according to basic compositional principles.

The photographs are then used to create pencil drawings, often leaving only the main motif on a white or black/dark surface. The pictorial approach is realistic, but the motif is presented without an eye for a realistic reproduction of the object. Primarily looking to evoke a feeling, the object-composition is a vehicle. The lack of colour adds a distance to the otherwise concrete scenes. The sculptural works go through a similar process, and she often adds or changes the material to create new associations to the objects.

Magnhild Opdøl

Magnhild Opdøl (b. 1980, Sunndal) holds a Master of Fine Art from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, in addition to studies at the Nordiska Konstskolan in Kokkola. Opdøl works in the tension between naturalistic compelling drawings and a cruel reality and the works on paper spills out into the room with sculptural works and objet trouvé. From her studies to the present day, the search for possibilities to show the invisible or overlooked has been an ongoing motivation. Motives are often inspired by day-to-day life and daily human interventions in nature and objects around us. The beginning of a work is marked by stepping back and rediscovering something that has long been familiar but do at the same time contain subtle references to art history.

Recent exhibitions include:

• “(if it´s real), Kunstgarasjen, Bergen, NO (solo, 2025)
• “Walking beyond the trees”, Forum BOX, FI (solo, 2024)
• “Drawing Time”, Royal Hibernian Academy, IRL (group, 2023-24)
• “Petrichor”, Haugesund Billedgalleri, NO (solo, 2023)
• “Med mjuke steg”, Møre og Romsdal Kunstsenter, NO (solo, 2023) Trøndelagsutstillingen, NO and Vestlandsutstillingen, NO (group, 2023)
• “(alone at last)”, Galleri Box, Göteborg, SE (solo, 2021)
• “I almost forgot”, Galleri Ask, NO (solo, 2022)
• “we do not want to be us”, Norsk Skogmuseum, Elverum, NO (solo, 2021)
• “Holding my Breath”, Galleri Ö, Tjøtta, NO (solo, 2021)