Ragna Bley

Ragna Bley is an artist based in Oslo, primarily working with painting, in addition to sculpture, text, and performance. Embracing spontaneity and scale, she draws inspiration ranging from science fiction and the natural world to art history, pushing the boundaries of her medium with a restless commitment to experimentation. Her intuitive work expresses conceptual ideas through vibrant colour, evoking living organisms, shifting weather, and imagined landscapes. Underpinning this diverse sensibility is a strong technical grounding, honed through her BFA at the National Academy of Fine Arts, Oslo (2011) and her MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London (2015). Bley (b. 1986, Uppsala, Sweden) has presented solo exhibitions at OSL contemporary (2024), Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2022); Malmö Konsthall (2020), and Kunsthall Oslo (2017). Selected group exhibitions include The Canvas Can Do Miracles, The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center, Austin, Texas (2025); Ars Fennica 2025, Helsinki Art Museum (2025); After the Sun – Forecasts from the North, Gammel Strand, Copenhagen and AKG Buffalo, New York (2024); Abstraction (re)creation, Le Consortium, Dijon (2024); The Hour of Reckoning, Henie Onstad Art Center (2021); The Moderna Exhibition, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2018) Bley was among the nominees for the Ars Fennica Prize 2025, one of the most significant contemporary art awards in the Nordic region. Upcoming exhibitions include When I'm in My Painting, a group exhibition at Kistefos, The Twist, together with Ida Ekblad, Oscar Murillo, and Albert Oehlen (May–November 2026), and a solo exhibition at Vandalorium, Sweden (2027).