New Year and Utsmykkingsfondet

2013 started off all hopeful, and with some interesting and exciting things happening, including meeting Stian Andersen and Magne Furuholmen, and also attending Magne's "Norwegian Wood" exhibition, where I met best buddy Guy Berryman, Steve Barron, and there was Sir Peter Blake as well, then later, The Art Party Conference, where we met Jeremy Deller and he wrote us a funny note, yet I had rather hoped that by the end of the year, some progress would've been made for artists to get paid, and some commissions never materialised either.

Santa has gotten me a copy of Pushwagner, including Soft City, which is research for the graphic novel I'm illustrating.

Included in the autobiographical context in which Hariton Pushwagner created "Soft City" in Oslo, is the socio-political background which explains Kunstneraksjonen 
Not the title of a Franz Ferdinand album, it was set up In 1974, to improve the social and economic conditions of artists, and a state guaranteed minimum income (GMI) was achieved in 1976, along with a public art fund (Utsmykkingsfondet) and a copyright fund (Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond)

From what I can gather, this is now under threat, and artists are facing the same struggles in Norway now, using the hashtag #kunstneraksjonen They organised a day of strike action, just prior to The Art Party Conference here in November, in which art works were covered in public and private spaces with bin liners, no books were read, and support for the campaign was gathered outside the Norwegian Parliament building, Stortinget on Karl Johan's Gate in Oslo.
More info here Solidarity!

There's a reference to Öyvind Fahlström's "World Map", but I'm more interested  in his other work "Fåglar i Sverige" 

I hope that this year is the year that something is done to stop the cuts and enact a positive change. We can't wait any longer. #payartists