Seeing the paintings for Kristin Vestgård's new exhibition for the first time I came to think of the song 'She's a woman and now he is a man' by the American rock band Hüsker Dü. But don’t be afraid. Please hold on. I will make that connection later.

First, as always in Kristin Vestgård’s paintings, there are women. Female characters in front of houses, in the mist, in the woods, by the sea, waiting for someone. Alone or together with other women. Secret smiles and expressions. Always holding their own. The paintings for this exhibition, I think, are very recognizable for the artist and for those who follow her work. But see, there is also change.

In one or possibly two of the paintings I can, in the far distance, see a man or a figure with the shape of a man. The character has all the right stuff - top hat, tuxedo, black shoes, a slender cane - the works. Ready for a premiere or a vernissage. But in the physical event of getting closer to the image, to the painting, I am not quite sure. The character might as well be, and possibly is, a woman in men's clothing. It might as well be a woman in woman's clothing. It is, probably and after all, still a woman. And even so. This little detail strikes me as important. I sense something new. And new is always good. And not because I myself happen to be a man.

Kristin Vestgård's paintings are quiet but they are not still. I have earlier seen both explosions and human encounters of what I recognize as both sadness and hardship along with expressions of the more light of heart. Now as always, whatever the expression, portraying bad or good, there is something solid within them. The images come across as very firm. They can really hold their own. They don’t pardon for being what they are. They don't pardon for anything. They come across as very honest. To me that is quality. To me it is like the characters within the paintings both know where they are going and where they are coming from. I think that is a great part of why I find them interesting to look at. I want to know what they know. And when I am looking at them, in a way, I do.

So, after being stricken by this and their beauty, what comes next is a sense of great calm. I sometimes get bewildered by what we see. But bewildered to me is good. There is a connection. It leads somewhere. Then afterwards, a sense of both strength and will, in the image itself and from the characters within the image. And from the artist herself. These characteristic looks and glances - sometimes shy but always bold. And always with a great and certain dignity. Encouraging us to enter and walk into their and Kristin Vestgård's world and then share the distance and whatever might be in it. The characters project their inner sensibility at us, so that we also, I would like to think, can open up to them and possibly also catch a glimpse of something in ourselves.

There is something very certain in the, sometimes on the surface, very quiet images. In all their beauty they are rock solid. It certainly looks good to the regular naked eye. To mine. It has a core. Kristin Vestgård's own. It is quiet and moving. But never still. It’s female of course. That figures. It is the same and yet it is different. The little changes come across in the little details. And therefore it reminds me of the song by the band Hüsker Dü. There is change. It is good. She's a woman and now he is a man.

Jørn Kurt Bergo, Åsgårdstrand, Norway, November 2011