Magic Bean: The Artist Feature

As a sculpture and installation artist for over 20 years, Signe Solberg's work spans across outdoor and public spaces. Growing up on a farm in southern Norway, where the nearest mailbox was two kilometers away, she had endless open space to experiment, build, and explore. Surrounded by old farm equipment and her father’s vintage car builds, she grew up comfortable around raw machinery and weathered metal.

When handed the Silver bead for the Magic Bean collaboration, the connection was instant. "Silver is very close to steel: a material that’s been at the core of my practice for nearly 20 years," Signe explains. "Revisiting that bright, polished material gave me a real feeling of nostalgia. It brought me back to the moment in art school when I first discovered metal and fell in love with it."

Known for working intuitively without sketches, often cutting up past works to create new ones, Signe sees the exhibition as an exciting creative boundary. "The challenge is meeting the assignment on my own terms, without compromising my process or the piece."

Born in Molde, a small town in northwestern Norway, Kamilla Skarsbø grew up in an environment centered on making. With parents working at a nail factory, creating came naturally: "We started building stuff very early on: everything from Legos to treehouses," she explains. As a child, she collected metal pieces, screws, and nails she found outside. "I really wanted to fly, so I thought all of these pieces were magic. I believed if I collected enough, I could make wings."

Now a master’s student at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, her early fascination with raw materials remains at the center of her practice.

Revolving around objects and space, her works capture wear, touch, and the passage of time. “I like to use materials that are almost like a canvas, so they collect marks and wear over time,” she says.

When handed the colour Black for the Magic Bean exhibition, Kamilla leaned into its duality. ”The first things that come up are depression, fear, sorrow. But it's also a comforting, safe colour. So I think there's a lot of contrasts there to work with.” Approaching the artwork’s set canvas, she embraces the balance of structure and complete freedom. “Having a defined shape and colour is the perfect start: from there, the piece can end up anywhere.”

Growing up between Italy and Norway, Kaspergiraffe's artistic side developed during quiet days at home, spent drawing and bringing ideas to life. Today, he splits his creativity between different mediums; from painting and graphic design to running fashion and skateboarding brands. His creative drive focuses on the idea of physical transformation: “It’s about turning an idea, a sketch into something physical: a product you can feel, touch, and package."

When assigned the colour Red for the exhibition, he was drawn to its intensity. “Red is energetic, brutal and confrontational. I think of stop signs, sunsets as well as Ferraris,” Kasper explains. “When I was younger, most colours were fun, and this is a primary colour I used a lot. But as you grow up, shit gets real, just like this colour. There's more emotional baggage attached to it now - like anger and passion.Yet it's still a colour I've loved my whole life.”

Kasper approaches the assignment with quiet confidence and curiosity. His design process can vary between different projects, but he always starts the same way. “I always sketch, I go and find some books and look at old magazines to get inspired and find references.” Tackling a spatial 3D piece rather than traditional paintings or garments, he explains how instinct plays a big part. “It's always a rocky road, there's never ever smooth sailing in the process department. But when I get a good idea, I just want to make it real as fast as I can."

With a background in interior architecture and furniture design, Kevin Kurang quickly stepped away from standard utility to explore sculptural form. Putting function aside, his practice revolves around bringing shapes into physical existence: "The main motivator for me is having a piece in my mind or sketchbook that I simply need to see exist in the real world."

As he was assigned the colour White for the exhibition, Kevin connected the shade directly to a recent trip to the Carrara marble quarries in Italy. "Some people call white a non-colour, but I see it as deeply expressive: it even carries a melancholic sorrow," Kevin reflects. "White has incredible potential to catch light and shadow; if you handle it right, it can even turn black. We don't need more mass-produced objects without souls. I want my pieces to feel alive."

Approaching the exhibition alongside seven other artists, he looks forward to discovering their unique interpretations. "Eight artists taking the same starting point in different colours creates an interesting dynamic. I'm excited to see how all these sculptures exist together.”

Growing up, Kachun wanted to become an athlete. “I wanted to do something that required moving around a lot,” he recalls. While he drew dragons as a child, art remained a secondary path: as he didn't hear about the art academy until age 17. Today, his practice is deeply inspired by geology, nature, and wildlife, focused on making people pause and reconnect with nature. From hand-carving stones to experimenting with raw wood, his work is driven by physical tactility: "Seeing or hearing an artwork engages one sense, but the moment you touch a material, it creates a completely different level of connection."

When assigned the colour Green, he immediately connected the shade to the return of spring and the first signs of life. “Green reminds me of the first sprouts of plants,” he explains. “It brings back many childhood memories of spring, that feeling of a new beginning when you could finally play outside again.” Over time, his relationship to the colour evolved:

“Today, I see green as a safe colour, a colour of protection. It's an urge to care for something worth protecting, like the nature around us.”Familiar with creating spheres and working with raw elements, from perfectly molded forms to organic, hand-carved structures, he approached the project's set canvas considering the story of the material itself. “When I get an assignment, I immediately think about the material: what I want to say with it, what it actually means, and how we relate to it: not just in a symbolic sense but more tangible.”

Eirik Stensrud’s practice spans sculpture, painting, and photography. Inspired by everyday encounters, his work centers on bringing these small moments to life for his audience: “What inspires me is to create little moments where you sort of stop and wonder: something that makes you question life a little bit.” Growing up in Hovseter in western Oslo, he recalls the moment his perspective shifted: discovering Conversations by Italian artist Vito Acconci while joining his mother on house-cleaning jobs. "It was a sequence of grainy, black-and-white photos of him ripping hair off his stomach. It flipped a switch in my head and redefined what art could be."

When handed Yellow for the exhibition, Eirik reflected on how the colour's cultural meaning has evolved over time. "Yellow is unapologetic and screams for attention: it’s the colour of warning signs and safety helmets," he notes. "Back in the day, it symbolised greed and envy. Today, it’s mostly treated as a happy colour representing energy, but I find that historical shift interesting."

Approaching the exhibition's set canvas, he avoids rushing into immediate ideas, allowing patience to guide his conceptual process. "I think it's important not to pre-define what a colour should symbolise emotionally," Eirik explains. "I’m a bit skeptical of ideas that come too easily. Your first idea is often just top-of-mind, and while you might end up there eventually, it’s essential to walk that extra mile first."

As an abstract painter and textile artist, Julie Aida Graf's practice is deeply driven by landscape, travel, and environmental observation. Whether painting outdoors in Norway or travelling abroad for artistic journeys, her work captures the textures, lighting and organic forms of her surroundings. “The people, culture, colours, textiles: I take so many photos of everything I see. It's about your own internal journey. As you are growing as a person, your craft also grows with it somehow,” she explains. 

Growing up, she started to paint and experiment with colours, perspective and scale from a young age. “I started using crayons on our doors at home,” she laughs. “That wasn't very popular and my grandma told me she spent so many hours trying to get it off.” Over time, the urge for bigger formats led her to explore large-scale painting, textiles and garments. Today, Julie remains deeply inspired by the environments around her, continuing to let new surroundings fuel her work: "What inspires me is the environment that I put myself in, for example when I travel just to do art: the motivation is just constantly growing. From there, it can end up in different shapes and colours."

When assigned Blue for the exhibition, she immediately reflected on her personal connection and deep respect for the shade. " Blue is a very soothing and re-energising colour, it can transfer into so many feelings,” Julie explains. She approaches the project with excitement and curiosity, embracing the challenges that might appear. “I’m intrigued by the shape and how I can challenge myself to stay out of my comfort zone,” she reflects. “I just want the piece to develop on its own: I think this project will give me that therapeutic feeling.” 

With a career spanning 22 years, Nicolay Aamodt remains driven by the urge to create something physical with his hands: a calling he discovered around age ten. ”A painting can start from reading a poem or more closely to memories from your childhood,” he explains. Holding a fine arts degree from San Francisco, his work spans from quiet, minimal art to vibrant visual noise, deeply shaped by his years living and creating in the U.S. 

For the Magic Bean exhibition, Nicolay was handed the colour Pink: a colour that has long had a central role in his practice, having previously used fluorescent pink over a six-year period to recreate neon lights. He remains excited about the colour, and reflecting on its historical meaning. “It's a colour that I have used a lot and still use, so I was happy,” Nicolay reflects. “Historically, pink was a mark of wealth, elegance, and status.”

Ahead of the exhibition, Nicolay leans into the constraint of working from a set canvas: "Making something interesting out of a very strict, basic shape is a challenge, but that’s what makes it exciting."

Beyond the collection, Magic Bean comes to life in the spatial exhibition at KÖSK Gallery. Discover a reinterpretation of memory and connection, transforming a single starting form into three-dimensional sculptures, installations, and objects: a physical reflection of the experiences that shape us.

Discover the exhibition on display at KÖSK Gallery through 13 September 2026.