ART CITIES: Copenhagen-Mamma Andersson and Tal R.

Mamma Andersson, Weekend, 2016, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard ArchiveKarin Mamma Andersson’s and Tal R. Furthermore’s approach to art show a mental connection, although at first glance there seems to be more differences than similarities between the two artists. “Svanesang” is the title of two parallel exhibitions shown at Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen and Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm., on presentation are new paintings and gouaches.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Galleri Magnus Karlsson & Galleri Bo Bjerggaard Archive

At “Svanesang” on presentation are new paintings and gouaches, that   mark the first real collaboration between Mamma Andersson and Tal R. and is the result of a ‘dialogue through images’, where the artists for a period of time were sending each other photographs and thus finding inspiration in one another’s visual language, their common fascination with swans and skeletons has proved to be productive for their exhibition. Through this process they created a common frame of references and motives, which is why we see some of the same elements repeated in both their work. Inspired by filmic imagery, theater sets, and period interiors, Karin Mamma Andersson’s compositions are often dreamlike and expressive. While stylistic references include turn-of-the-century Nordic figurative painting, folk art, and local or contemporary vernacular, her evocative use of pictorial space and her juxtapositions of thick paint and textured washes is uniquely her own. Her subject matter revolves around evocative, melancholic landscapes and nondescript, private interiors, she was part of the Nordic Pavilion at the 2003 Venice Biennale.  With their flamboyant colours and exuberantly painted imagery, Tal R. Furthermore’s paintings give the impression of being simple, almost turning high art into child’s play. While they are certainly direct, with paint often squeezed straight from the tube, his canvases in fact wear their sophistication and intelligence lightly. Central to the work is Tal R’s profound understanding of painterly tradition which simultaneously accommodates muscular, expressive brushstrokes used to describe people, objects or places, and a stabilising pictorial format informed in part by formalist abstraction.

Info: Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Flæsketorvet 85 A, Copenhagen, Duration: 24/8-22/10/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat 12:00-16:00, http://bjerggaard.com and Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Fredsgatan 12, Stockholm, Duration 30/8-13/10-16, www.gallerimagnuskarlsson.com

Mamma Andersson, Jag/I, 2016,Galleri Magnus Karlsson and Galleri Bo Bjerggaard Archive
Mamma Andersson, Jag/I, 2016, Galleri Magnus Karlsson and Galleri Bo Bjerggaard Archive

 

 

Tal R, Svaner om natten, 2016, Galleri Magnus Karlsson and Galleri Bo Bjerggaard Archive
Tal R, Svaner om natten, 2016, Galleri Magnus Karlsson and Galleri Bo Bjerggaard Archive

 

 

Tal R, The Bend, 2016, Galleri Magnus Karlsson and Galleri Bo Bjerggaard Archive
Tal R, The Bend, 2016, Galleri Magnus Karlsson and Galleri Bo Bjerggaard Archive