Inger Johanne Grytting, M 7, 2015, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches
© Inger Johanne Grytting.
Courtesy the artist and Westwood Gallery NYC
Inger Johanne Grytting (b. 1949) is a Norwegian-born, New York-based artist who has lived on the Bowery since 1972.
Her practice is rooted in a dialogue between Scandinavian sensibility and the legacy of New York Minimalism. Characterized by restrained, repetitive lines and an intense focus on the physical act of mark-making, her drawings and paintings transform simple gestures into meditative fields of rhythm, tension, and light.
Her paintings and works on paper draw inspiration from the stark landscapes and luminous atmosphere of northern Norway, while her move to New York in 1972 brought her into contact with conceptual and minimalist currents that profoundly shaped her artistic language. A decisive influence was her mentor, the Norwegian artist Jan Groth, whose exploration of the line as an autonomous expressive form resonates throughout Grytting’s work. At the same time, Grytting’s emphasis on bodily gesture, chance, and material resistance distances her work from the cool detachment of classic Minimalism, aligning it equally with Abstract Expressionism’s concern for process. The result is a distinctive visual language in which repetition becomes a form of introspection, and each line records the subtle interplay between discipline, intuition, and the artist’s physical presence.
In addition to her studio practice, Grytting served as art director of Fiction magazine for more than forty years, fostering collaborations between international writers and visual artists.
Grytting has exhibited internationally, and her work is held in museum and private collections. Selected museum exhibitions include the Vigeland Museum (Oslo, Norway) and Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum (Tromsø, Norway). Her work is represented in the collections of the National Museum (Oslo, Norway), Stavanger Kunstmuseum (Stavanger, Norway), Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum (Tromsø, Norway), and KODE (Bergen, Norway), among others.
Inger Johanne Grytting is exclusively represented by Westwood Gallery NYC.
