The Symmetry
of Sleep

THE SYMMETRY OF SLEEP consists of a series of charcoal works inspired by symbols, biological systems, and dream logic. The works suggest systems and structures partially concealed in darkness, with an unresolved intention poised between the constructive and the destructive, the attractive and the repulsive.

Through an intuitive process, the forms are gradually erased into view from the darkness. Rather than directing the drawing towards a predetermined idea, I try to follow where it wants to go. The title refers to how seemingly random dreams can contain underlying patterns and intentions. It also refers to how the symmetrical starting points of the works are gradually distorted.

My projects develop over time through a slow and investigative approach. Thematically, I move between the body, gender, ritual, dreams, time, and monuments, with an interest in the tension between systems and dissolution, the familiar and the unfamiliar.
I explore how meaning shifts through context, and how symbols and forms can evoke both attraction and unease. Symmetry, repetition, and gradual distortions are often used to create a sense of imbalance or tension.

I work across drawing, sculpture, painting, text, animation, and digital tools. These media function as different entry points into the same practice, with drawing as a central link between language, image, space, and object.

Petter Solberg is a visual artist currently based in Oslo, Norway. His work includes sculpture, painting, poetry and animation. Since graduating with an MFA from Edinburgh College of Art in 2010, Solberg has exhibited in both group and solo shows home and internationally, and has participated in residencies in Norway, Denmark and Germany.

Much of Solberg’s work is created in a state of playful ambivalence where the process keeps shifting between different media and materials, and where different ideas and narrative possibilities are explored. The works often consider different aspects of contemporary culture and society, usually expressed within fictional narrative contexts.