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