My work describes a primal joy in mark making. The more there are of them the more I feel alive.
- Inger Johanne Grytting
Born in the small town of Svolvær, Lofoten Islands in northern Norway, Inger Johanne Grytting took her first art classes from local artists as a teenager and began painting in oil at 15 years old.
In 1972, Grytting moved to the Bowery in New York City, where she studied art at City College of New York. She is grateful to have been guided by her friend and mentor Jan Groth (1938-2022) who introduced her to the New York art scene. Despite not receiving traditional art training, Grytting met many American artists among her circle of friends like Alfred Leslie, Albert Maysles, Red Grooms, Mimi Gross, Tod Papageorge, Mariana Cook, Helen Wilson, and Chaim Gross, and explored many New York art galleries and museums on weekends, all which she credits as her greatest teachers. Shortly thereafter, Chaim Gross brought her to The New School as an assistant in his sculpture class, and later as an assistant at the Educational Alliance, where she taught Gross’ class.
In addition to her art practice, Grytting was the art director of Fiction Magazine for over forty years, where she connected international writers and visual artists.
Inger Johanne Grytting’s artwork is exhibited internationally and collected by museums and private collections. Selected museum exhibitions include The Vigeland Museum (Oslo, Norway), and Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum (Tromsø, Norway). Her artworks are in the collection of The National Museum of Art (Oslo, Norway), Stavanger Kunstmuseum (Stavanger, Norway), Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum (Tromsø, Norway), KODE (Bergen, Norway), and others.
Inger Johanne Grytting is exclusively represented by Westwood Gallery NYC.