With Compliments: Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd
Also featuring works by:
Marcel Duchamp
Öyvind Fahlström
Meret Oppenheim
Emmett Williams
Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd belonged to a circle in Stockholm, who was early to come in contact with the work of Marcel Duchamp. Already by his late teens, Reuterwärd was critical of the traditional role of the artist, and as a seventeen-year-old, he came to the conclusion that "Style is fraud." He starts investigating the work of Duchamp, reading Wittgenstein and Kafka, and begins working with language. Various aliases gives him the opportunity to explore different medium.
Charlie Lavendel, Kilroy, Pratt-Müller, Fridolin Vogelsang, Hannelore Schlunke. The work of Reuterswärd is filled with humour and a witty awareness of the shortcomings and possibilities of language. It is conceptual and hits directly at commonly accepted conceptions.
Reuterswärd was a pioneer in the beginning of his career. Presented here with some of his friends and contemporaries: Duchamp, Fahlström, Emmett Williams, Meret Oppenheim.
History is always open to re-interpretation. This exhibition not only brings to light an important side of the art of Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd; it also presents an era of art in Sweden that is not widely known. History is re-written. Or as Reuterswärd himself put it: "Your behavior must either surprise you; or it has to be surprised by yourself."
/Thomas Millroth
The exhibition was made possible through countless interviews by curator Thomas Millroth with the artist, along with help from the Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd Art Foundation and Galerie Bel' Art. A catalogue designed by Henrik Nygren Design was produced for the show, including a numbered limited edition of 25 containing prints approved by the artist, titled "Signatures CFR."
