Backdrop: Emma Bjurström

At Six, Brunkebergstorg 6

With a touchdown in art history Bjurström initiates a dialogue with the early modernists. The circle is a recurring theme through her work. It’s a universal symbol for rebirth and the eternal. Bjurström uses them as an attempt to make an ending, to complete the works as they are carefully painted last in the process. The essence of the circle has fascinated humans from Aristotle until today; a perfect circle or a sphere is almost impossible to create. She initiates a Socratic dialectic, and in the same way as in her previous exhibition, the viewer is faced with a contorted mimesis, as if bent out of shape. But; it’s not up to the viewer to judge with what kind of force Bjurström’s brushstrokes are to play. It is rather her figuration of the painterly ambition, that in a democratic way reflect the circular order that in a convincing way decide the theme for this sequence.

Bjurström’s paintings testifies to how the old masters gaze can be re-interpreted, re-evalued and brought to new life. Details of themes from Manet, Zorn and Singer Sargent are picked up and thrown into a tumble dryer and fall out re-interpreted. Without putting too much emphasis on the viewers’ spatial affairs their wisdom can still be seen in the 21stcentury. In this an art historical congeniality appears, emphasized by the circular symbolic, in itself containing what has been and what will be – a break from the old to merge modernity with abstract utopia. The divination that has not been uttered comes near the melting point in Bjurström’s painting. She is a testament that real recognize real, when she merges extremes.

Valter Sydén