Joel Cole was born in Minnesota in 1968 and visited the Faroe Islands for the first time in 1986. Ever since, the artist has had a close relationship to the islands and has lived in the Faroe Islands since 2011. Joel Cole creates organic artworks made of different kinds of wood and basalt.

A recurring theme in the work by Joel Cole are ideas surrounding identity, and many of the pieces refer to the artist’s origin and home: The United States and the Faroe Islands. This comes to view for instance through interesting combinations and juxtapositions of different kinds of wood in pieces that sometimes seemingly do not fit together. In these pieces, the focus is on the meeting of the different types of materials and contrasting textures.The wood used by the artist mainly originates from the Minnesota River valley, close to where the artist grew up, while many of the pieces also rest on a pedestal made out of Faroese basalt.

In the exhibition “Identity” at the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands, several new artworks by the artist will be on view. The pieces are made of many different types of wood and basalt as well as glass, which is a new component in the artist’s work.

The exhibition opens at the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands on the 6th of October at 16:00.