Rune Werner Molnes - photographer and visual artist who mainly focuses on the themes of landscape, existentialism, landscape conservation and rural decay.

These are themes that he sheds light on in his project "Entropy", which was accepted for the West Norway exhibition. (Vestlandsutstillingen). This project also received support from the city of Bergen in 2021 through their international art- and culture grant, which contributed to the realization of his solo exhibition at Gallerí Fold in Reykjavik, Iceland the same year.

Recently, photos from his project "Honest Landscape" were purchased for the Japanese Consulate in Norway. The project is a commissioned work from the University of Bergen that was created through one year of free project work with an accompanying separate exhibition.

"Unworldly Landscape" is project that has been created during ten study stays in Iceland, where he also collaborated with environmental organizations for the protection of unique areas in the Icelandic highlands. The project has resulted in two separate exhibitions, also at Galleri Fóld in Reykjavik, in addition to purchases by the Norwegian Representation Office in Palestine and the Icelandic Consulate in Detroit, USA.

Molnes has several years behind him as a working chairman of the board at Isotop Fellesatelier in the center of Bergen, where he has his studio on the third floor. He is also deputy chairman of BKFH (Visual Artists' Association Hordaland) and board member of Hordaland Kunstsenter (HKS).

Rune has a strong concern for the parts of nature which are still untouched by man. "Untouched nature is becoming a scarce recourse, and it is important for me to communicate the unique features of these places to as many as possible. Hopefully I will be able to make a small difference through my work."

Apart from photography he has a passionate interest for music, existentialism and philosophy in general, interest which feed back into his photography: “Each landscape has its own melody and I always listen to music when post- processing my images. I usually find some music which suit the mood of the photograph in order to stir my own imagination, most of the time improving the end result."

Atle Maurseth, curator and owner of Galleri Allmenningen, describes his photographs as "powerful - conveying the dramatic calm that can only be found in nature. Take his dynamic and energetic seascapes for instance, they have something distinctly Molnes' about them."

“I suspect that trying to dissect the foundation for ones artistic motivation can be a perilous task for any aspiring artist. However some aspects spring to mind in an attempt to describe my relationship to photography, and why I have chosen to pursue it as an art form: That is a longing to understand and fully experience the grandness, mystery and innocence of nature that humans are so much a part of, but at the same time intrinsically separated from. An attempt at maintaining a child like curiosity and openness towards the world, despite age and reason working the opposite way. The magic of life and the frailty of the human condition. Existentialism. Conservationism. Recurring misanthropy in relation to the aggregate behavior of our species. A perpetual quest for adventure and the constant awareness of my own mortality. These are some of the subjects and feelings I explore through my photography."

Rune's art is represented at leading galleries in cities such as Reykjavik, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger and Oslo.