Norwegian photographer, Tom Sandberg (1953-2014) is considered a pioneer within the field of photographic art. A master of light in the photographic tradition, Sandberg worked exclusively within the medium of black-and-white photography and continued throughout his life creating his characteristic analog artworks with its rich grey tones and tonalities in the darkroom. Always on the move with his camera tied to his hand, Sandberg explored the surface and depth ratio in a motif to build both ambiguous and recognizable complex reality.

Retrieving his modest, yet majestic images within the photographic classical genres such as clouds, people on the street, the female nude, airplanes, and landscapes, including more abstract subject matter, Sandberg’s remarkable poetic vision is imbued with a strong sense of presence and mystery. The seemingly divergent subject matter shares a state of being in transit. Together they form an associative narrative – a translucence that travels through meteorological and urban scenes stands as the artist’s undoubted signature. Renowned for his large-scale prints on various media such as aluminum sheets and canvas, and evocative portraits, like the ones of John Cage and Krzysztof Penderecki, Sandberg’s images render an experience of seeing the world anew.

In the early 1970s, Sandberg studied photography at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham, England, where Thomas Joshua Cooper, Paul Hill, and Minor White were among his teachers. His early work was one of the first acquisitions of photography by The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design, Oslo, and he paved the way for photography within the art-world in Norway. Sandberg’s international recognition had its peak with the solo exhibition at MoMA PS1, New York, in 2007. His work is found in several museums as well as public and private collections, such as the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, and Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.