«The expression “the financial and the spiritual” is often applied to the world of publishing, but is just as relevant to the art world. A point the painter Per Hess makes in a variety of ways. While Olafur Eliasson’s sensational light exhibition is drawing in the crowds at Astrup Fearnley Museum, it is worth recalling that optical effects can also be produced by more conventional means. At LNM, the gallery of the Association of Norwegian Painters at Bankplassen, Per Hess shows that painting still has the power to surprise. And he does so with politically charged pictures that are so self-obliteratingly white that they almost shine! This exhibition is a Wunderkammer with a big difference.»

«Most of these pictures make the point that white is much more than just white. This is particularly clear in Down to Business 5, which hangs in the innermost corner and seems to radiate its own light.

Around a pink field (the effect of an underlying neon-orange pigment), the grey frame appears white. And shimmering through all this is a barely discernible white stripe like the line of a graph representing the development of share prices.As an economic indicator, the line is plummeting, but as such it only applies to Per Hess’ vision of the financial world. The spiritual conquers the financial because he demonstrates that a minimalist and ultra-modernist project can have a vitality that reaches far beyond the capitalist imagination.»

From the Art critics of Lars Elton, for the newspaper Verdens Gang.