New path

From now on I am pleased to tell you that my newest blogs will be placed on the new and inspiring weblog Online Galerij, that focuses on the many nice and interesting art projects in the Netherlands.

You can read the blogs at Online Galerij and my own Dutch weblog.

Start Swedish research

Right now I stopped writing about museums and art galleries in Stockholm, since my Swedish is now good enough to do some research. I am planning on continuing the research I started three years ago: on television illustration. What interests me is the development of animation for television purposes, since television gives a lot of restrictions to animation. This makes animators very creative in finding solutions that still look good on tv, and that creativity is my main point of interest. This means that I am digging in the Swedish national archives now, and planning some interviews with animators while I still can. I am still considering whether or not to put (fragments of) the interviews on this weblog.

Art history for sale

If you want to know more about the Swedish art history, be sure to drop by at Kurt Svensson Konsthandel at Vasterlånggatan 76 in the Old Town of Stockholm. The gallerist has over 50 years of experience in selling Swedish art, from the 1800s up to now. You would think that roughly all the big names would be at museums and auction houses right now, but surprisingly he knows where to find them, and how to sell them, and he is also very friendly and keen on telling you all about the artists. He has quite a big selection of classic and orientalist (which means that the artist went to the Orient and painted very idyllic but nowadays stereotypical and often racist scenes) paintings, among others by Frans Wilhelm Odelmark. He also has a lot of modern art, for example by the in Scandinavia well known Cobra artist Bengt Lindström. We know Cobra off course from artists such as Karel Appel, Constant Nieuwenhuis, and the Danish Asger Jorn, but there were many artists, in different fields, who were a member of this art movement. Kurt Svensson’s has also has some very surprising things, such as a drawing by Ilon Wikland, whom I deeply admire as the illustrator of many Astrid Lindgren books. He also has Pop Art prints by Hans Arnold, which can be best described as politically engaged and somewhat eerie drawings that strongly remind of the great illustrations by Alan Aldridge (you know, the Beatles illustrator). One artist of this day, whom the gallerist claims to have made famous himself, is the Chinese Realist artist Zhao Kailin. Whether you like the recent Realism movement or not, these portraits are very intense and go further than depicting physical reality. Not only because of the size (why do Realist paintings have to be big, to remind of the original Realist paintings? It would be the only resemblance then), but also because of the character of the portrayed, that gets a lot of attention. Overall I can say that this is a very interesting gallery with a mishmash of styles and periods, but wit good quality. *I am sorry to say that some of the links in this text are in Swedish. This is because in the rest of Europe, a lot of important European artists are mentioned in art history books, but very little Scandinavian ones. These artists, though great, are therefore only known in Scandinavia.

Going for a walk at Södermalm

If you are in Stockholm and you want to see a lot of art in one day, go to the island Södermalm. Get off at subway station Slussen and go to Hornsgatan. This very nice street in Stockholm is bursting of nice shops on the left side, and art galleries on the right.

One example of a nice art gallery is Kunst och Folk. They have mostly Swedish artists and graphic artists and the quality is very good in my opinion. Galleri Puckeln is also worth mentioning, because of the funny name, but also because of the flamboyant choice of artists, although not everything was similarly exciting to me.

If you see steps down to Pustegränd, drop by at number 6: it’s Galleri Tersaeus. The gallery owner does not speak English very well, but he is kind and has good taste. Adorable art works of the illustrative kind can be seen there, (when I was there he had works by Alina Witwitzka and Eva Svennergård, the last one being extremely cute and original), as well as works with a touch of humour. I saw aquarells of Peter Czerniak that resembled romantic harbor sights, but looking closer there were cranes and building sites in it.

The best thing I saw there was actually at the beginning of the street: the artists association Grafiska Sällskapet. Lots and lots of good quality prints hang on the walls and are accessible in large drawers. The association exists over 100 years now, and they have lots of exhibitions of good quality (the work of Jan-Anders Hansson and Kjell Moritz that I saw there was incredibly good). Unless they are closed to hang a new exhibition, it is always worth stepping inside there and taking the time to go through all the prints of the various artists there.

There are much more galleries, such as Galleri Hera, Galleri Abante, Galleri Kaolin and many more; it depends on your taste where to go in. You can also drop by at the nice ceramics shop called Blås & Knåda, or the picturesque teashop near the end of the street. And if you are at the end of Hornsgatan, you are treated with a nice park where you can relax and process everything you have seen. Then, close by there is the subway station Hornstull, so your tired feet don’t have to walk you back through the whole street again.

List of galleries I mentioned:

Grafiska Sälskapet – Hornsgatan 6
Galleri Puckeln – Hornsgatan 26
Blås & Knåda – Hornsgatan 26A
Kunst och Folk – Hornsgatan 34
Galleri Hera – Hornsgatan 36
Galleri Abante – Hornsgatan 44
Galleri Kaolin – Hornsgatan 50
Galleri Tersoeus – Pustegränd 6

Parallel worlds - Eija-Liisa Ahtila at the Moderna Museet

Trees are usually props in a scene; they are part of the setting in which a situation tales place. Entering the first room of the exhibition space, trees are the protagonists in various drawings. They act like people in funny comics, they bend, twist and mirror the visitor – literally, with mirrors.

Trees are important in the work of Ahtila. In her work, that mainly exists of video, the scenery, and especially the enormous pine trees that can be seen all over Scandinavia, get a lot of attention. The main artwork that was shown at the exhibition: The Annunciation (2010) is a religious one: three screens show one movie from three different angles. We see how a small drama club prepares and practices for an annunciation play. During the movie there is a lot of attention for the scenery, which gives an almost sacred feel to that what the players are going through in the process of practicing and rehearsing. When they finally play it, it seems as if the annunciation is really happening.

Another work that I found interesting was a portrait of a pine tree on film. Ahtila found it difficult to portray something as big as a tree: if you want to have it on screen from ‘head to toe’, you get all the other trees on the portrait as well, and it turns into a group portrait. Therefore, she made several takes, first of the ‘feet’ of the tree, then a bit higher, then higher again, until she reached the top. All these takes were shown on their own screen, next to each other, together showing one moving tree – sideways, as if lying down. It is a great solution to her problem, because it really works as a portrait. You can see and enjoy his branches and needles waving in the wind and see it as an individual.

Eija-Liisa Ahtila is a Finnish woman who has quite a résumé. Her work has been among others at MoMA in New York, Tate Modern in London and Kunsthalle in Zürich. Now she can add the Moderna Museet in Stockholm to it, and I think she deserves that. She questions the little things in life that we take for granted, and gives these things – a tree, a bird, a feeling – the chance to be the protagonist, without overdoing it.

Until May 6th at Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Johan Patricny – serious business or classical humour?

I saw some work of Johan Patricny at Liljevalchs Konsthall, and I was very interested. So when I found out that he had a solo exhibition of his most recent paintings at Galleri Agardh-Tornvall, I went there to see it. You can see that Patricny works in a traditional technique; it is mostly oil on canvas, layered up to create depth and natural colour. In my previous blog post, where I mention his work, I wrote about his museum paintings: “It is art within art, painted in a traditional technique, with a funny twist.”

According to the gallerist I have it all wrong. I asked him about Patricny’s technique (I was right about that part), and wanted to know whether he painted at the museum to make these works, or made photos that he used at his studio. The gallerist assured me that he worked at the museum, with his model who we see in the paintings, and that pleased me: it is how a classical artist should operate.

But the ironic twist that I happen to see in his work is “in the eye of the beholder”: according to the gallerist the artist is very serious about his work and did not intend to add some irony. But then: why this subject? Why make the art viewer the subject of a painting? Why the Old Masters in the background, and modern people in the foreground, with their much too serious faces? Is it a tribute to the old masters? Is it a form of ‘moving on’; extending the classical tradition to this era? In my opinion that is not enough to cover it. That alone can’t be a reason to go and paint at the museum; the selfreflexivity with a twist is there, right under our noses, and it has to be understood as a little wink. And that very wink makes it interesting.

There were also other works hanging at the gallery: mostly flower- and landscape paintings. His technique is rougher, and in my opinion it misses something that the museum work has: somehow they don’t intrigue me that much. It is as if the subject that inspires him is not there. In his model work you can see what makes the model interesting for him: the pale skin, the rosy cheeks, the young and slightly naïve look on her face. In the landscapes I get the idea that it does not really make him tick.

For more art in a classical technique with a wink, see the work of Maarten Welbergen.


On show until tomorrow:
Galleri Agardh-Tornvall
Sibyllegatan 65, Stockholm

Galleri Ingela S – The masculine figures of Leif Jacobsson

Interesting work hangs in the small gallery of Ingela S. Once inside, you see abstract, colourful work as well as imposing metal male figures. This artist, Leif Jacobsson, likes working with big, rough materials.

Jacobsson’s work is strong, masculine and monumental. I especially liked the large male figures for their monumentality, but also for the technique Jacobsson uses, as shown in the image above. He shapes strips of metal and puts them together in an open structure, until it results in a human form. This makes it possible to see through the figure, and it makes the metal on the one hand behave like a harness, but on the other hand like human flesh, ribs or muscle tissue, because the forms are organic, and because the human figure is not complete. That makes these works fascinating.

Also the painting ‘Expansion’, a large, almost abstract painting that depicts an enormous city as far as the eye can see was a very strong image to me. However, I have some difficulty with the abstract works with leading titles such as ‘Threat’ and ‘Roaring Silence’. On his website he writes about these works as “poetical expression of nature”, and there he lost me. To me it gets a bit too far-fetched there, because we have to believe the word of the artist to view and understand the artwork. An artwork should stand on its own, not guided by a name, hoping that anyone would recognise the theme in it, because people do, or they simply don’t, whether you give hints in names or not. But then again, also the technique of these works is again impeccable, so they are definitely worth taking a look at.



Tomorrow is the last day this exhibition is on show at:
Galleri Ingela S
Klara Östra Kyrkogata 2 A, Stockholm

Konstnärshuset – Etta Säfve and Håkan Berg

I should go there more often. The Konstnärshuset (Artist’s House) in Stockholm’s city centre is a beautiful building designed by Ludwig Peterson, built in 1899. Inside, Art Nouveau is hanging – and painted on the walls. This house was founded by the Swedish Artists Association, which has a history of building bridges between the Academy of Art and the slightly more avant-garde artists. It is still their property.

This art association switches very quickly from one exhibition to another, which is another reason to go there more often. They always have an art exhibition at the Stora Galleriet on the second floor, and an exhibition of graphic design at the Grafikgalleriet on the third floor. This time the artist and graphic designer were Etta Säfve and Håkan Berg.

I must admit that I did not like the work of Etta Säfve, mostly consisting of charcoal drawings, very much. I did not see the extra value in these spherical, dark drawings. They were all landscape-like, abandoned beach-like drawings, and therefore I think the idea could be triggering this lost feeling, but it didn’t. The projections that were there were conceptually stronger than the drawings. Unless I missed something important, I think this was not the best thing I have seen so far.

Håkan Berg makes very colourful prints (and as I once said: I am a sucker for colour, but I’ll try to stay professional). He seems to be trying to find some kind of tension in his images: most of the prints have one basis colour and a tiny figure in one or two other colours somewhere on that coloured plane. In some works he succeeds better than in others, but this tension is definitely there. He also says himself that he keeps on experimenting, also with different materials, and indeed, there were also a few small paintings in which he tried the same, and succeeded best. The image I show here is a photo of his works in another gallery, but they were also at the Konstnärshuset. They are all made in one colour, and because of that the only thing noticeable about them is that they are not made in a square. That makes them interesting, because why are artists always bound to this square shape? Few artists dare to change that.

Next exhibition in the Stora Galleriet called “Showroom” is of different Swedish artists; it is already open (for only six days!) and it looks very promising. I definitely should go there more often.


- Funfact: Carl Larsson (yes, the one I stole the image of the bare butts from) was the first chair of this gallery’s art club.

24-29 feb.: “Showroom” at Kunstnärshuset
Smålandsgatan 7, Stockholm

Renée Lord at Galleri Eva Solvang

On the last day that this exhibition was open I ran uphill in the heart of the city to see the exhibition of Renée Lord at Galleri Eva Solvang. I entered a tiny, but very tasteful gallery.

Who Renée Lord is (the name suggests a woman), stays somewhat of a mystery; at least there is no website of her and her work. But at the website of the gallery some of her photos and sculptures are shown. The photographs are of nature, mostly woods and watery scenes, and the composition, though the subject is organic, is sharp and very well balanced. The photograph on the invitation in fact looks so well in balance, that it is almost eerie – how can trees be that fixed? Until you see what she has done to it.

The sculptures by Lord are also very good: it is the same contrast between tightness and organic forms that give the sculptures enormous tension. Also, the way in which she balances form and rest form is very interesting. I am glad that I dropped by just in time.

The next exhibition at Eva Solvang’s will be of Gösta Backlund, who uses a combination of aquarelle and enamel. The invitation looks promising, so I will definitely go up there again soon to see it.



Unfortunately closed now. Exhibition Gösta Backlund opens tomorrow at:
Galleri Eva Solvang, Grevgatan 26, Stockholm

Vårsalongen – Spring Salon at Liljevalchs Konsthall

Liljevalchs Konsthall has a long tradition of organising ‘vårsalongen’: the spring salon. As soon as the holidays are over it is time to look forward to spring – at least in Sweden where the winters are long and cold. So although the snow is thick outside, inside Liljevalchs spring is celebrated with a broad selection of young, talented artists. Walking into the building of Liljevalchs, which is beautifully designed by Carl Bergsten, I see big halls where a lot of art can be shown. A jury containing artists picked out what is – in their opinion – new, interesting or otherwise worth to hang in this enormous space. Of course something like this is subjective to a certain level, but in my opinion the jury did a good job.

Interesting to see in this overview, is that knitting and crochets are booming. Why this trend suddenly comes up I do not know, but it is always nice to see such diverse materials used within one exhibition. Lolitta Nedoman for example, being brought up by Serbian parents, uses embroidery to find a way of connecting Swedish culture with the Serbian culture.

The popularity of textiles may have something to do with another trend: being concerned with the environment. For years the Swedes have been very good at taking care of the environment, just by not messing it up in the first place. Still also here the environmental changes are an issue, which is also visible at this exhibition, for example in the work of Greta Voćar. Although this artist says it is the fear of loosing a type of design that made her refill the bottle, this image of the two bottles, one extremely colourful and the other serene and pure, is very strong and seems to tell us something about the environment as well. It is too bad that this is a photograph though, I would find it even stronger if it were a sculpture made out of two bottles.

Photography is of course also well represented, for example in the work of Casia Bromberg, which I found very interesting. Come Closer is a triptych of self portraits, with arms shown of others. She says about these photos: “In this triptych I want to show how vulnerable we can feel in an intimate relationship.” And indeed I can see how she tried to capture that, with strong shading, a certain anonymity of the other person and her own, somewhat empty facial expressions.

Another discipline was of course not left out at the exhibition: conceptual art. I have to say, of some works I don’t see the relevance. Other works were of a more selfreflexive, humorous and interesting kind, such as the MING-vase by Åsa Landström, which made me laugh out loud. Thinking that the fake or even kitsch Ming-vases are probably for sale in every dubious corner of the world, Landström puts an end to the confusion: this one definitely is fake.

The image above (I Strömsalen II, Nationalmuseum by Johan Patricny) is also a form of selfreflexivity, because it shows, in paint, how paintings (all right, and a sculpture) are received by the public. It is art within art, painted in a traditional technique, with a funny twist. And to me, the rosy cheeks of the girl who tries to look professionally at the well-shaped figure of a naked man are the cherry on the cake.

There was much more to see at Liljevalchs, from fashion to giant Lego rabbits, and there were QR codes everywhere, which makes the exhibition even more interesting. If you want to know what’s happening in the Swedish art world, this is the place to be.

Until March 25th at Liljevalchs Konsthall
Djurgårdsvägen 60, Stockholm

NOISE – Mads Gamdrup at Christian Larsen Gallery

The photographs of the Danish Mads Gamdrup are interesting to see. At first sight these bright coloured dots already hint to a scientific notion of colour, because of the primary colours that are used in a grid. And indeed, when looking at the website of Christian Larsen Gallery, where these photographs hang, a detailed description of his work and the scientific aspect of it, is presented. It explains how Gamdrup uses colour theories of Newton and Goethe to blur monochromatic colour dots to white, which has an intense impact on the viewer. Seeing them full scale makes you almost dizzy.

These theories I will not go into too far, but I reckon everyone is familiar with the spectral theory on colour by Newton, which we still use today. Colour is a reflection of light, which can occur in different ways (different colours), depending on the surface of the object. The colours defined by Newton are the ones you can see when a beam of light is put through a prism: from magenta to violet. These colours are used by Gamdrup as well, but now from an inkjet printer.

Goethe’s theory has to do with the impact of colour on the viewer: afterimages, visual effects etc. These are definitely important for Gamdrup as these effects are mindblowingly present. It is hard to stay in the exhibition room for too long, because the effects are so strong.

Interesting is that I have seen work of this nature before, a few years ago by Roland Schimmel. He has a different approach: he blurs the colours together and doesn’t use a grid. Another difference is the big black dots in his works, which leads the focus of the viewer. This way your eyes are on the dots, which makes the blurred colours outside the dots even more radiant. However, there are also striking familiarities: they both use this technical approach of the use of colour, together with theories on perception. And they both ended up using pure, primary colours and a similar way of blurring to enhance the effect on the viewer. Whether these artists have met each other, or seen each others work, is not clear. A duo-exhibition would be very interesting though.


Christian Larsen Gallery
Hudikvallsgatan 8, Stockholm

I am afraid to say that today was the last day that it was possible to see this exhibition. However, I found the gallerists very pleasant people who showed me work of previous exhibitions, so it will definitely be worth to have a look.

ANIMAL – Annika Larsson at Andréhn Schiptjenko gallery

A silent movie in 14 acts is the main piece of the exhibition “Animal” by Annika Larsson at gallery Andréhn Schiptjenko. In this movie, accompanied by mechanic sounds, we see fursuiters – people who like to dress up in furry animal suits – in different situations, varying from the woods to parties. With a handheld camera using extreme angles and close-ups, Larsson shows how these people act while in these suits. It is somewhat alienating, not only because we cannot see who is hidden inside these suits, but also because of the used film technique.

Annika Larsson is an internationally known artist who has had exhibitions through Europe. Interesting about her work is that she films everyday situations and everyday people in this close technique of hers. This way these normal, everyday things become extracted from their original setting, making it weird, confusing or awkward to look at.

Larsson herself says about the alienating aspect of her work: "a cliché is something that we are supposed to see in a certain way. When you get close to it, it can have a new meaning - it is that twist I am interested in." And indeed the appealing furry suits in “ANIMAL” can easily become a cliché when photographed or filmed, but in this movie she leaves room for thoughts about the social or philosophical aspects of this phenomenon.

On show until 12 February at Andréhn Schiptjenko, Stockholm.

“Blake’s Artists and Other Collages” – Peter Blake at Wetterling Gallery

One of the greatest Pop artists of Great Britain is presented at Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, from February 9th until march 24th. Peter Blake, best known for his album cover design for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, will be exhibiting his latest work there, which mainly exists of – as the title shows – collage work.

At the exhibition site different forms of collage are shown. One of those are the two-dimensional collages, which go by the title “The Butterfly Man (followed by another city name each)” and vaguely remind of the Sgt. Pepper’s album I mentioned. These art works contain all kinds of references on art, history and pop culture that have nothing in common, which is one of the characteristics of Pop Art. The other collage form is the kind that is made out of objects. They are framed, so you cannot see them as entirely three-dimensional objects, but more as two-dimensional collages with relief. The objects that Blake used vary; it can be anything, a stone, a wooden object, a piece of rope, a little doll. Although they have nothing in common, they remind me of the treasures of a young boy. These objects, I can imagine, are probably the result when you turn the pockets of a 10-year old inside out. It is as qualitatively well made as it is touching.

Also a characteristic of Pop Art is the copying of other artists, and openly referring to them. The “After Sonia Delaunay” series is very good: the images are strong and well composed. But humor can be found in the art works “Borrowing from Jack Pierson” and “Copying Jack Pierson”, which refer to well-known art works of Jack Pierson in a way that is both obvious and blunt, and therefore funny. It is Pop Art at its best.

“Blake’s Artists and Other Collages”
Wetterling Gallery 9-2 / 24-3
Kungsträdgården 3, Stockholm

Fotografiska Museet – Anton Corbijn, Aitor Ortiz, Margaret M. De Lange

At the photographic museum in Stockholm, there was a nice surprise for me. The main exhibition was of fellow Dutchman Anton Corbijn, who we all know for his photographs of famous people. A selection of these photographs was shown, along with stills from his movies ‘Control’ (2007) and ‘The American’ (2010) that were shown on screens at one part of the exhibition space. It was set up in a nice, spacious way. The walls were dark grey and the lights were low, so the attention was completely on the photographs. Corbijn is very good at portraiture, and always shows something of the identity of the person he photographs. He mainly photographs in black and white, and his use of light on the face and the compositions he uses make the photo’s interesting to look at. But of course the biggest fun is to see and recognise the artists on the photos, which is what most people like to do at such an exhibition, and, guilty, I did that as well.

The same set up was used for the exhibition of the Spanish Aitor Ortiz, on the next floor. His photos – it needs to be said – are incredible. He specialised in architecture and works in series. His Destructuras series (2005) for example exists of photos of large buildings, in which repetition plays an important role. With the photographs printed very big, they become a bit ominous. Not a soul is visible, no other forms of life, such as plants or animals: only these massive constructions with unnatural and slight unnerving repetitions exist in this visual world. The quote of Spanish writer-on-art Francisco Javier San Martin that was written on the wall at the entrance makes sense:

“There are many anonymous photographs of famous buildings, for which we value the building, but not the author of the photograph. Aitor Ortiz reverses these roles; here authorship is ascribed to the photographic vision; anonymity to the architecture.”

Indeed the architecture has become anonymous, while Ortiz is starting to rise as an great, well known photographer. It would be a shame if he wouldn’t. The Millau series (2008) are completely different from the Destructuras series. Here he did something interesting: he photographed the seven individual pillars of the very high Millau viaduct in France. We see one pillar on each of the photos, just being there with nothing special in the background. The photos are beautiful to look at, but at the same time it has a sense of solitude that is justified, because who ever notices the pillars of a viaduct?

On the top floor the third and last exhibition was shown: “Surrounded by no-one”, of Margaret M. De Lange. This Norwegian woman shows photos of people ‘surrounded by no-one’, which results in striking, confronting and sometimes shocking images. We see people that have strange body marks, which reminds me of the work of Carla van de Puttelaar, people who are minding their own business: being naked, having intercourse or just breakfast, but also photos of animals. The photograph of the woman on the bathroom floor is exemplary of De Lange’s work, because you start to wonder: what is she doing there? Is she smoking? Is she picking her nose? And what about that other hand? She is minding her own business, surrounded by no-one.