Belenius

Curator: Sophie Påhlson-Möller

By appointment only

In the building and construction industry there is a multitude of materials that exist for clear purposes. However, these materials are later hidden, painted and even left forgotten. No one wants to see these fragments that make up the bigger and broader spectre. We only want the whole picture, that perfect and ready structure. Anti-refinement are keywords for Willem Andersson. His sculptural work are the very anti-thesis of the perfected lines and forms. Using sealant, he produces sculptures that live their own life. The sealant cannot be controlled, it enlarges itself at free will. The artistic procedure starts after its appliance. Using colour, fire, force and a lot of will the process continues ad infinitum. The sculptures take form. He furthers his examination of entropy. The term entropy is derived from ancient Greek consisting of two words, “en- “, which is an abbreviation of the word energy, and “trope”, which translates as transformation. Ergo, transformation of Energy. Order and fixed energy rules materials at first. Andersson disturbs this order creating his sculptures. Taking control of uncontrollable materials his works take form. Bringing into the light what was initially supposed to be hidden, Andersson sculpts. He describes himself more as a handyman, a craftsman than an artist. Things that constitute a purpose and also and foremost is what it is, turn into works of art in his care. The perfect balance between order and chaos in his sealant bridges this chasm as he carefully sculptures and changes the entropy of the materials. Renewed energy is pumped into the simple materials, thus bringing forth new life in the sculptures.

Some of his sculptures in this exhibition are completely made out of clay. Andersson calls it waste-material, junk or litter. This particular clay is often used at kindergartens by children. The artist here strives to enrichen and uplift the materials often discarded in fancy venues.  Much like sealant, clay is masked painted and often overlooked. Hence, Andersson bring these forgotten materials back to life, and also back into the light. Refreshingly, we need to see today what we have around us, just round the corner. Sculptural clearness like this reminds us of just that – the beauty of mundane things and materials. The very title of the exhibition is also a witnessing of this. The brass tacks that hold everything together around us, yet without us giving them praise or thanks.

Valter Sydén

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Belenius proudly presents the gallery’s first solo exhibition by Julia Bondesson.

In the first solo exhibition by Julia Bondesson at Belenius gallery the artist will show new works made in the last year, both figurative sculptures and reliefs. An installation which shares the title of the exhibition, is a largescale marionette puppet hanging from a scaffold. Bondesson recounts that her inspiration comes from choreography and the bodily ability to be part of a narrative, to convey something greater and beyond. The motions are occasionally paused as in an everlasting moment – yet without being frozen solid. The human body possess an inherent testimony – it may have scars, wounds, well-trained or not. Whatever we do or however we live our body is the only vessel we have on earth. The works are made out a hardwood, the small-leaved linden in the workshop the artist share with a carpenter. There she meticulously sculpts the choreography. Bondesson scorches the wood, colorize it and draws with neon.

In theatre, dance and the opera scene the human fate and our actions are portrayed with the body as a steppingstone, in the same way as the sculptures of Bondesson. During the pandemic we have been robbed of the opportunity to gather and enjoy these motions. The sculptures function as a cure, a medicine as they create scenes in the physical world. The works speaks for themselves, their meaning revealed in the visual experience.

“Science, Order, and Creativity” is a legendary book by the physicists Bohm & Peat (1987). In it they seek to dissolve the petrification within technology and science, that in some cases do more harm than good, and they describe the need of a new creativity as the remedy. The human creativity relieves us all from the crisis. Bondesson refers to this book as she strives to return to motion as a counterweight to the petrified. Wholeness is emphasized rather than fragments, it is time for a new paradigm with a profound meaning in contrast to completely surrendering to technology. Bondesson have studied at a puppet theatre in Taiwan. You can sense this in the sculptures, as the tone unfold a sanctity which celebrate the body as an essential instrument for harmony, rather than being secondary to intellect.

In 2021 it has been sixty years since the famed “Art in Motion” opened at the Modern Museum in Stockholm. Among the multitude of artist-heavyweight champions in the exhibition, Nikki de Saint Phalle has to be mentioned here in connection to Bondesson. In the new corporeality liberated from ancient expression, one can surmise a lineage over these sixty years. The sculptures by Julia Bondesson aren’t exclusively feminine, yet the motion seem to continue. Not least in her upcoming solo exhibition at the Modern Art Museum in Malmö this fall.

/Valter Sydén

Julia Bondesson was born 1983 in Kinnared, Sweden. She is an artist focusing on sculpture and performance, and she lives and works in Killeberg in the south of Sweden. She studied at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm 2006-2011, with two exchange years in Asia. The first at the Chiang Mai University Faculty of Fine Arts in Thailand and later in 2009 at the University of Tsukuba in Japan.

Selected solo exhibitions:
2021 Moderna Museet, Malmö (upcoming)
2019 Ghost Dance, Eskiltuna konstmuseum, Estilstuna
2018 Ny förbindelse, Hertha Hillfon c/o Skeppsholmen, Stockholm
2017 Vertical Phantom, Vandalorum, Värnamo
2016 At Night, Halmstad Konsthall, Halmstad
2015 Beckers Art Award: Training Camp for the Animal Spirit, Färgfabriken, Stockholm
​​​​​​​2010 Acts of Mindless, Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm

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(English below)

Eva Lange föddes 1935 i Stockholm och är verksam där. Ledamot av Kungliga konstakademien. En puristisk skulptör och minimalismens mästare. Studerade vid Konstfacksskolan 1953–59, Konsthögskolan 1959–64. Representerad vid Moderna Museet, Nationalmuseum, Museum for Foreign Art Riga Lettland, Göteborgs konstmuseum, Stockholms, Göteborgs, Solna och Lidingö stads samlingar.

Eva Lange kan benämnas med hederstiteln en av Sveriges främsta skulptörer. En sann mästare vars konstnärskap präglat, lärt, utforskat och tidlöst sammanfattat essensen av svensk postmodernism. Adjektiv i sammanhanget går ej att undfly när man som lyckosam betraktare delges hennes universum. Det skulpturala formspråk Lange i livslångt undersökande presenterar och demonstrerar minner om en puristisk era, en andedräkt av enkelhet i dialog med djup visdom. Oavsett material möter Lange dito med skolad hand, med den djupaste respekt, insikt och ett bugande inför traditionen. Själv har jag fått äran att se hur arbetet men också vardagen i ateljén fortskridit, både innan och under en global pandemi. Med given försiktighet har alstren fortsatt fördjupats, men också invigts i de nya utmaningar och uttryck tiden bjuder. Hur handen med sandpappret som stilla går över både marmor och alabaster fulländar den enkla formen, idealet från fordom utan att alls förenkla dess totala tyngd. Timmar, minuter och klockslagen går; de expanderar i detta formens tillblivelse. Vi måste tala om tid och givetvis rymd. Skulpturerna får ta tid.

I Langes repertoar återfinns monumentala skulpturer ofta projekterade utomhus. Anish Kapoor är värd att nämna i sammanhanget vilken Lange delar ett tydligt konstnärligt släktskap med. Naturen, skogen och konstnären James Turell är också en tydlig åskådliggörande bild.

Teckningarna giva också dem utställningen dess röda linje i sin fulländade enkelhet. Minimalistiskt vittnar de om det sena 1900-talets öppna stränghet, men också en annan känsla, när andra strömningar fyllde verk med symbolism, inte minst politiskt. Lange med hennes närmast hänsynslösa fokus på det större, det sublima och de andliga formerna i kolteckningarna framstår som kolonner, ja närmast tidlösa andetag som enkom bjuda in till en innerlig tolkning och förståelse. Med ett formspråk som förnimmer om antiken och dess strömmar lyckas Lange kombinera den stig vi alla beträder och går, med en riktning mot eviga värden och blickar både mot kosmos och oss själva. Med svärta och dunkelhet formas kanhända hennes motiv utifrån ett andligt sökande i teckningarna. Oavsett medium och uttryck återfinns den eftertänksamma mästarens hand i arbetet som förevisas. Former, det avskalade frambringar en känsla av lugn i de skuggspelens tider vi nu leva i. Detta är just den mångbottnade ambivalensen man omfamnas av i mötet med verken. Konsekvensen av allt blir ett nyfött paradigm som oförutsett ger betraktaren nyckeln till att inom sig själv finna släktskap med verken man möter.

Valter Sydén

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Eva Lange was born in 1935 in Stockholm and is still active there. Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. A puristic sculptor and master of minimalism. Studied at Konstfacksskolan 1953–59, Konsthögskolan 1959–64. Represented at Moderna Museet, Nationalmuseum, Museum for Foreign Art Riga Lettland, Göteborgs konstmuseum, Stockholms, Göteborgs, Solna and Lidingö stads collections.

Eva Lange have indisputably earned the honorary position to be named one of Sweden’s greatest sculptors. A true master whose artistry both embossed, taught, explored and timelessly summarized the essence of postmodern Swedish art. There are no escaping various adjectives when you as a fortunate viewer submerge into her universe. The sculptural design language in her lifelong investigation both present and demonstrate memories of a puristic era, a slice of simplicity in dialogue with deep wisdom. It does not matter which material Lange engages in and meet with her trained hands, utilizing the deepest respect and insight with a deep bow before tradition. I’ve been given the seldom honour of seeing how her work continues in her studio both beforehand and during a global pandemic. With given precautions her works have continually deepened, also being inaugurated in the new challenges and expressions the zeitgeist bids. Her hands and her sandpaper gradually moving over marble and alabaster perfecting the simple form, the ancient ideal, alas not simplifying its total encumbrance. Hours, minutes and time pass during this endeavour; they expand in this creation of form. We need to talk about time and space evidently. The sculptures are allowed to essentially take time – they must.

In the repertoire of Lange, you will find monumental sculptures often made for the great outdoors. Anish Kapoor is also worth mentioning, whom Lange shares an artistic connection with. Nature, the forests and the artist James Turell are also vivid metaphors.

Her drawings match the quintessential ideal of her body of works perfected simplicity. With minimalistic manifestation they tell a tale of the last century and its open severity, but also another side when currents filled works with symbolism, not least politically. Almost ruthless Lange and her focus of the sublime and spiritual forms in her drawings perform and visualize columns, indeed timeless breaths that invite to a devout interpretation and understanding. Her design language reminiscence of the Hellenistic historic streams Lange succeed in combining the path we all walk upon, gazing towards eternal values both in the great cosmos as well as in ourselves. She forms motifs with dark intensity in this spiritual journey and investigation.

No matter the expression or media at hand the prudent master and her skill are shown in the works presented. The stripped forms bring forth a calm in these times of shadow play we now live in. This is the ambivalence of the multifaceted meetings you face with her works. The consequence of it all is a new-born paradigm that unforeseen give the viewer a key to within oneself find kinship with the works at hand.

Valter Sydén

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Work in Progress
A collaboration with creative consultancy ACNE
18.3.2021 from 14:00
Norrmalmstorg 1
18.3-18.4.2021

Opening the 18.3 at 14:00 Belenius in collaboration with creative consultancy ACNE proudly presents an extraordinary art experience at Norrmalmstorg 1. Windows can work both as a protective barrier but also an opening or peephole. Though the glass Fatima Moallim and Leif Elggren will execute a visual performance with movement and drawings. Their mutual themes will be office spaces, openness and landscape. During the evenings between Timothy Wilson will show light-art on the theme of artificial intelligence. The regular-ness of contemporary life in our office spaces, and the relation between the artificial and organic is examined in this project.

The exhibition is a part of the initiative RESTART – Art for Industry by the creative consultancy ACNE, beginning in Stockholm and subsequently rolling out to all cities where ACNE has offices around Europe during the spring. Showcasing the power of art. For industry and beyond.

Campaign website:
www.restartbyacne.com

Fatima Moallim was born in 1992 in Moscow. Self-taught and with an impressive list of merits she has taken an already self-evident place in Swedish art life.

The foundation of her performance-acts lies in drawing where Moallim express the energy directly via her senses to the canvas or paper through the tip of the pen. With her back against the viewer the lets them see her work take form during the process. It often happens in perfect silence, much like a wordless prayer. With humour, introspection and responsiveness the work gets embodied during her performance.

Moallim has exhibited site-specific works at Moderna Museet Stockholm, Göteborgs konsthall, Marabouparken, Zinkensdamm metro station in Stockholm and on the glass facade of Bonniers konsthall.

Leif Elggren born 1950 in Linköping is an internationally established artist based in Stockholm. Active as a conceptual artist since the end of the -70s he works multidisciplinary with sound-, text-, performance-, installation-, and visual arts. Themes such as power relations, spirituality, the absurdity of life and strong symbols are recurring. White on black but also yellow showcase the biggest contrasts. During 2011 when Elggren lived in New York the artist was out on a walk on Hudson Street when he stopped by a traffic light. Two ladies stood in front of him carrying typical fashion bags with thick glossy paper and a big logo. He overheard one of them saying to the other – “Oh, I have such a passion for fashion”.

With this in the back of his head Elggren began to draw, also starting a tiny blog. He named the project “Drawings for fashion”. The artist introduced red paint in his drawings, which have become significant for this particular series. “I return to the occurrence on Hudson Street with black and red pens, figures and figurative matter”, says Elggren. The motifs later developed into round shapes and forms – a doughnut, a swimming-ring or why not a virus. The circles radiate beams and threads. Elggren is represented in the collections of Moderna Museet Stockholm, Göteborgs konstmuseum, Kalmar Konstmusem, Norrköpings konstmuseum and Nationalmuseum.

Timothy Wilson born 1988 in Stockholm is an installation artist who uses laser and other modern media as he shapes futuristic landscapes. Using slides and light he examines the spiritual condition of the artificial, whether artificial intelligence have a soul like presence during this early stage of its development. “Each soul has its own path; each soul is killed by its mother. Will anyone survive?”, are questions Wilson have asked for this project. The eternal question of the soul is actualized with robots and man-made things. Wilson have exhibited at Uppsala light festival, various group- and solo exhibitions at Belenius and made everything from the lighting for Silvana Imam and Jacob Mühlrad, to the lighting for sets at the Royal Dramatic Theatre.

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(English below)

Emma Bjurström undersöker i denna utställning den svenska myllan och platsbundna företeelser. Detaljstudier och förstoringar av föremål från en svunnen tid. Det binära som infinner sig i motståndet, men också utvecklingen och expansionen mellan olika tidevarv. Föremål kan ges ny innebörd på nya platser. Genom besök på Nordiska museet i Stockholm och Österlens museum har Bjurström dykt ner i det traditionella bylivet runt om i Sverige under 1800-talet. Folkkonsten är ett återkommande tema i målningarna och skulpturerna. I uttrycket från förr visades mytiska bilder och berättelser, som fick sin förklaring i de kulturella omständigheterna där de uppkommit. Bjurström utför en blinkning mot dåtiden för att överbrygga avståndet till nutiden.

Med släkt i Småland har Bjurströms barndom präglats av berättelser och fotografier om den stora utvandringen till Amerika. I måleriet har hon sökt frambringa en känsla av att lämna snarare än något att hålla fast vid. Packningen emigranterna tog med sig till det nya landet innehöll minnen och material från det kända och gamla. Linnetyger och minnessaker fick nytt liv på en ny plats. Också detta fungerar som ett återkopplande till den svenska myllan.

”I linneskåpet ligger hela livet och trängs. Mellan lakanen har barn avlats, sjukdomar överlevts och gårdens gamla dött.”

Den internationella utblicken och urbaniseringen gjorde efter industrialiseringen att det lokala hantverket som utvecklats under generation efter generation föll i glömska. Hållbarhet och traditioner tappade i betydelse när istället masstillverkning blev förhärskande.

Lin och produktionen av detta var en stor del av livet förr, då det användes till kläder och trasor. Det slogs dock ut av den importerade bomullen, men återkommer allt mer då framställningen av det är mer energieffektivt.

Friargåvor gav män till kvinnorna för att tjusa dem innan ett potentiellt bröllop. Bandskedar var en av de vanligaste, som användes när man vävde smala band och bälten för linnetyg. De har nu lyfts in i denna tid och gestaltas skulpturalt tillsammans med delar från en gammal dörr.

De nya verken andas djupt av hembygd och allmoge. En suck är i en mening en konsekvens av ett syresättande. Det ligger i tiden att blicka tillbaka mot det lokala, inte minst under pandemin. Vi blir alla tidsresenärer, men inte av nostalgiska anledningar utan av framåtanda.

Valter Sydén februari 2021

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With this exhibition Emma Bjurström strive to investigate Swedish soil and site-bound phenomena. Detailed studies, enlarging objects from the past. A binary presence in the antagonism, also highlighting the developing expansion between different eras. Objects are able to gain renewed meaning in a new milieu. Visiting ´Nordiska museet´ in Stockholm (Sweden’s largest museum of cultural history) and ´Österlens museum´ Bjurström dived deep into the traditional village life of Sweden during the 19^th century. In that expression of old, mythical stories and pictures emerged that could be explained understanding the cultural circumstance from whence they arose. Bjurström perform a wink toward past tense, bridging the distance to present day.

Growing up Bjurström were told numerous stories, and also shown photographs of her family and their emigration to America. Her paintings convey a feeling of leaving, more than something to hold on to. Both emigrants and luggage contained memories and material from what was known and old, perhaps dated. Linen cloth and memory tokens received new life at a new place. This function as yet another wink toward the Swedish soil and spirit.

” A cramped linen cupboard contains a whole life. Between those sheets’ children have been conceived, sickness has been endured, and elderly died”

The international outlook and urbanization that occurred during and after the industrialization, sadly made us forget local craftmanship that we developed and perfected generation after generation. Sustainability and traditions diminished when mass production became the predominant manner of industry.

Linen and its manufacturing consisted a large part of life for the 19^th century man, it being used for clothes and rags. However imported cotton displaced linen but is coming back more and more as it is energy efficient in comparison.

Before a potential wedding could take place, men were imposed to give women a gift to earn their liking. One of the most common gifts was a rigid heddle, which was used when weaving strings and belts for linen cloth. These have been transferred into this era and are portrayed sculpturally along with parts from an old door.

The new works in this exhibition have a certain scent or feeling to them – that of home and Swedish cultural heritage. A sigh is a consequence of vital oxygenating. It is quite contemporary to gaze at which is local, or home especially during this Covid-19 pandemic. We have all become time travellers, not for nostalgic reasons but rather a push of go-ahead spirit.

Valter Sydén February 2021

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Notera att utställningen under rådande omständigheter inte inleds med en vernissage och att alla besök ska tidsbokas på https://belenius.com/information/

Note that due to the pandemic, there is no opening reception and all visits must be pre-booked at https://belenius.com/information/

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Belenius presenterar en utställning med nya verk av Sophie Tottie, konstnärens andra separatutställning på galleriet.

A Raft of Time

Plötsligt, oplanerat, står jag där vid glaciären, skakad. På nästan 2500 meters höjd ser jag hur kraftiga linjer av is och grus övergår vid glaciärens slut i ett grustag. Jag hör dånet från floderna som rusar mot dalen nedanför. Det svindlar, landskapet är märkligt stilla, både påträngande och distanserat. Tills ovädret slår till.

Hur ska man förstå, tolka och ha tillgång till det som händer i ens egen tid? Idag, igen, upprepas att vi visste och vet men inget gjorde och gör.

Arbetet kring Dead Reckon (2018–) och Sense (Universal(s)) (2020 –) orienterar sig utifrån överlappande ämnen för att inta olika perspektiv och lyfta fram olika aspekter av hur kunskap inte har omsatts och skulle kunna omsättas i erfarenhet. Dead Reckoning means to determine your current position from previous measurements or estimates of your position and without input from a system measuring your absolute position. One major issue when relying on a Dead Reckoning solution is the sensor bias drift 1)

Arbetet äger rum där handlingar från olika tider och sammanhang ackumuleras och gör avtryck. Det ter sig alltmer rimligt att aktivt försöka växla perspektiv och utifrån t.ex. svamp och träd, lära sig mer om ”the wood wide web”. 2) En detalj i ett större narrativ i Sense (Universal(s)) utgör också berättelser om hur stress och utbrändhet idag används om både människor och natur –inklusive eken utifrån vilken bläcket framställts. Det bläck som en del av verken gjorts med.

Arbetsprocessen som möjliggjort verken i utställningen ”A Raft of Time” cirklar kring att konkretisera abstraktioner som mätbarhet, miljöpåverkan, tid och plats. Verken tar avstamp i de skärningspunkter som uppstår när olika ämnen överlappar och skapar nya rum.

Sophie Tottie (född 1964 i Stockholm) är konstnär och professor på Kungl. Konsthögskolan sedan 2012. Hon har studerat vid Konsthögskolan i Stockholm och på Institut des hautes études en arts plastiques i Paris.

Med material som måleri, teckning, objekt och video undersöker Tottie ämnen med situationsspecifika, existentiella, politiska och historiska referenspunkter i skärningspunkten mellan individen och större strukturella system.

Totties arbeten har visats på bland annat MoMA, New York, en vandringsutställning av Okwui Enwezor, i en utställning curerad av Hans-Ulrich Obrist och Laurence Bossé på Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris och på Venedigbiennalen 1997. Parallellt med konstnärligt arbete och vistelser utomlands har Sophie Tottie föreläst och undervisat sedan slutet av 1990-talet. Mellan 2001–2009 som professor på̊ Malmö̈ konsthögskola och 2009–2010 vid Harvard/VES.

1. http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:797012/FULLTEXT01.pdf
2. Mycorrhizal network / www.sciencemag.org

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Belenius presents a solo exhibition with new works by Sophie Tottie, the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.

A Raft of Time

Suddenly I’m standing there myself, without having planned it, by the glacier, shaken by how the snow is melting, by the thunder of rivers plummeting into the valley below. From a height of almost 2,500 meters I can see how bold lines are drawn through the glacier by ice and gravel, ending in a gravel pit. Everything is strangely still, distant and oppressive at the same time. And then the storm hits.

How can we understand and interpret what is happening in our own time? We learn again that we knew and that we know now. But we did nothing and we do nothing.

The work around Dead Reckon (2018–) and Sense (Universal(s)) (2020–) departs from overlapping topics and then assumes different standpoints, aiming to show different aspects of the problem that knowledge was not translated into experience, but could be.

“Dead Reckoning means to determine your current position from previous measurements or estimates of your position and without input from a system measuring your absolute position. One major issue when relying on a Dead Reckoning solution is the sensor bias drift.”[1]

The work takes place where actions from different time periods and different circumstances accumulate to make an imprint. It appears increasingly important to actively change our perspective, and to learn more about “the wood wide web,” starting with e.g. fungi and trees.[2]

One detail in the larger narrative of Sense (Universal(s)) is the fact that the words stress and burnout are nowadays used about human beings and nature – including the oak, which is the source of the ink used in some of the works shown.

The method used to produce the works in the exhibition A Raft of Time focuses on rendering abstractions comprehensible, like measurability, environmental effects, and time and place. The works depart from the points of intersection that arise when different topics overlap and create new perspectives.

Sophie Tottie (born 1964 in Stockholm, Sweden) is an artist and a professor at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. She studied at the Royal Institute of Art and the Institut des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques in Paris. With material such as painting, drawing, objects, and video, Sophie Tottie examines topics with situation-specific, existential, political and historical reference points at the intersection of the individual and larger structural systems.

Tottie’s works have been exhibited at among other MoMA, New York, a travelling exhibition by curator Okwui Enwezor, an exhibition curated by hans-Ulrich Obrist and Laurence Bossé at Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and at the 47th Venice Biennale. In addition to her work as an artist, and working abroad, Sophie Tottie had been teaching and lecturing since the late 90s. Between the years 2001 – 2009 she was a professor at the Malmö Art Academy and between 2009 – 2010 as a guest professor at Harvard/VES.

[1] http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:797012/FULLTEXT01.pdf
[2] Mycorrhizal network / www.sciencemag.org

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Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen are a London based artist duo whose work is occupied with broad meanings of material and production. They work across objects, installation and film to explore production processes as cultural, ethical and political practices.

Savannah Moon, Sea the Stars, the dues second show at the gallery continues their study of gambling as the contemporary condition. A recurring subject in their practice is looking at the animal bodies as cultural products formed by human history, belief and fantasy. The works in this show revolve around the thoroughbred racehorse – a breed created and sustained within the ecology and economy of gambling.

Thoroughbreds all originated from three stallions imported to England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Ongoing global commercial breeding practices suggest these horses can be considered an embodiment of empire, enhanced by a legacy of paintings.

The Blue Roan series echoes a historical trajectory of racehorse paintings – from Degas to Stubbs – blending a transfixation with the animal form with a portrayal of global power structures and animal-human choreography.

For Blue Roan, the artists produced a bespoke powder coating formula which was made using the ashes of a thoroughbred race horse. The process follows on the historical use of bone ash in ceramics and on the artists’ appropriation of industrial processes in their work. The powder particles were specified in the thickness of horse hair and the colour mixed to match a blue roan – a rare horse coat colour pattern. The powder was then applied unevenly by hand to steel sheets in a powder coating factory, proposing a breed of horse painting which is material rather than figurative. Exhaustion is a series of bronze casts of racehorses fractured leg bones, reconstructed from medical CT scans.

Elsewhere in the exhibition is a subtitle track displaying a recent artist text, and a bespoke scent commissioned from a marketing company. The Restraint was created specifically for a gallery space, by overlaying musk with synthetic molecules that mimic human pheromones and the stress-like smell of the Dead Horse Arum Lily; a flower that imitates a horse corpse to draw flies which is used in perfumery to add a faint smell of the sea.

The blueprints in the back room bring together drawings, research, ideas and mementos collected in the production process of the work.

For the safety of our visitors, please book your visit at the gallery website.

Biography

Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen (b.1981, based in London)

Recent solo shows include Luna Eclipse, Oasis Dream at Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston; Trapped in the Dream of the Other at Mu.Zee, Ostend; White Horse / Twin Horse at de Brakke Grond, Amsterdam; Assemble Standard Minimal at Schering Stiftung, Berlin; their first survey show just opened at Z33 Kunstencentrum in Belgium.

Selected group exhibitions include The Renaissance Society, Chicago; Para Site, Hong Kong; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna; Fotomuseum Winterthur; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin and Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. Recent film screenings took place at the Serpentine Cinema, London; The Toronto Biennale 2019; Philadelphia Museum of Art and Congo International Film Festival, Goma. Critical writing and reviews include Artforum, Texte Zur Kunst, Frieze, Spike, Artreview and Metropolis M, their upcoming monograph ‘Not What I Meant but Anyway’ is published by Columbia Books on Architecture and the City (2021). Their work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and M+ Museum, Hong Kong.

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Laleh Kazemi Veisari
Berit Lindfeldt
Fatima Moallim
Clara Gesang-Gottowt
John Alberts
Beth Laurin
Johanna Gustafsson Fürst
Eva Lange
Ferdinand Evaldsson

We proudly present an exhibition with emerging artists, in dialogue with established masters. All from Sweden. Local art presented locally at Spritmuseum. Elastic Gallery and Belenius welcome you to a joint exhibition focusing on presenting art in the most favourable way, but under these special circumstances during this peculiar year.

‘By appointment’ is a new concept where we focus solely on Swedish artists and the local art scene. When artfairs and major art events globally have been cancelled or postponed, we are proud to be able to present a way to see art with focus on safety and the individual experience to the public, the artists with a central point on our mission; presenting high quality art to be viewed as it is best viewed: live in the physical room.

The exhibition will be a mix of painting, reliefs and drawings with sculptural objects. The works, who are handpicked from different periods of the artists both rich and aggregated careers, mix sizes and dimensions, but share one strong expression together. The works sprung from a solid interest in material, form, poetry, politics, language and art history. The exhibition invites the viewer to a much awaited spatial meeting with powerful objects in intimate yet large format.

Naturally, we will respect the guidelines from the government. ‘By appointment’ will only be able to visit if you book a slot for your visit, together we will minimize the risk of spreading the covid-19 virus by only allowing 25 people at the same time in the 300 square meters large and airy gallery space.

Artists:

Berit Lindfeldt b. 1946 will present a series of sculptures focusing on the memory of a material and the use of ready mades. Lindfeldts sculptures leads us into the physical and structure of the works, where the materials and the spaces the are exhibited in interact with our own memories and associations.

John Alberts b. 1987 new works have titles such as Whisper, 2018-2020 and Two Shadows, 2017-2020 that hints to other places and a feeling of another presence in the color packed canvases. We need to study the works both from a far and up close in order to fully capture the richness of the canvases.

Ferdinand Evaldsson b. 1988 relief works made of wood, pigment, silicon and saliva, rooted in icon painting, create a rotating movement in the exhibition. Evaldsson however presents monochrome surfaces, but with nuances that create depth in dialogue with the cut wooden surfaces that form the base for the works.

Clara Gesang-Gottowt b. 1985 present two large canvases, Skyscape I, 2018 and Skyscape II, 2019 light painted, where the paint seem to be wiped off the canvas. Thin layers that give a glow and light in the canvases, that radiate a sense and longing to nature.

Laleh Kazemi Veisari b. 1983 is an artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. Her interdisciplinary practice embraces drawing, painting and writing at its core, and engages in collaborative processes, researching the social and environmental imaginary.

Fatima Moallim b. 1992 is an image and performance artist based in Stockholm. In By appointment she will present brand new works that connect to her previous performance Flyktinglandet.

Beth Laurin b. 1935 participates in ´By appointment´ with various sculptures from her long career spanning seven decades.

Johanna Gustafsson Fürst b. 1973 will show a brand-new sculpture in conjuncture with her current exhibition Graft the

Eva Lange b. 1935 missions is to present the monumental in the solemn growing of a blade of grass. We show a careful selection of her sculptural treasure

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(English below)

Lördagen 26/9 2020 klockan 17:00-19:00 öppnar Belenius utställningen Blick av Ulla Wiggen. Vi visar tre nya målningar ur Wiggens iris-svit. Efter en blomstrande karriär på 1960 talet där hon främst målade kretskort, mekanik och teknikens inre, samt verkade som assistent åt Öyvind Fahlström i New York, tog Wiggen en paus från livet som konstnär och bytte karriär till psykoterapeut. Under den tiden målade hon dock porträtt, och i utställningen visas ett porträtt från 2013. 2018 återkom Wiggen med en svit målningar föreställande irisar och ögonblicksbilder ur människokroppens inre. Irisarna möter betraktarens blick, öga mot öga. Detaljrikedomen i målningarna omhuldar en fullständigt.

I november 2019 prydde Wiggen omslaget av Artforum, med en tio sidor lång artikel om hennes konstnärskap. Från teknikens inre, via psykoterapin till människans inre.

Av hänsyn till covid-19 viruset tillåter vi endast 15 personer samtidigt i galleriet, och hänvisar vänligen till bokningssystemet på galleriets webbsida.

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We are happy to announce the opening of Ulla Wiggen – Blick (Gaze) Saturday the 26th of September 17:00-19:00 at Belenius. Presenting three new works in her suite of Irises. Wiggen took a pause from painting and switched careers becoming a psychotherapist after a thriving artistic career in the 1960s where her main focus was painting circuit boards, the inside of mechanics and technology, also working as an assistant to Öyvind Fahlström in New York. Albeit still painting portraits during this period, we will also present a portrait from 2013 during this exhibition. Wiggen returned in 2018 with her suit of Iris-paintings and stills from the inside of the human body. The irises meet the eye of the beholder, eye to eye. The detail of the paintings fully embraces you.

Wiggen was on the cover of Artforum in November 2019 with a 10 page feature of her artistic career. From the inside of technology via psychotherapy to the inside of the human body.

We’ll only allow a total of 15 people in the gallery space at the same time, due to the covid-19 virus. Please book a slot to visit the gallery at the website.

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(Swedish below)

The idea behind the photo suite Diamonds Dancingwas born during a trip to Saint Petersburg where Peirone visited the Hermitage museum. In their vast collection numerous examples of neoclassicism can be found, for example The Three Gracesby Antonio Canova. The sculpture depicts the three mythological girls Euphrosyne, Aglaea and Thalia – beauty, mirth and elegance. As daughters to Zeus they entertained guests at parties at the Gods.

Peirone depicts girls after the party is over in the photo suite Diamonds Dancing– they’re lying on the floor, asleep, passed out when the last confetti’s’ fallen to the floor. The artist googled “drunken girls” that is a genre of its own, internet swelled with pictures of passed out girls in the streets and in apartments. These pictures inspired her in the making of the photo suite.

Three girls are lying closely together, exhausted in the work Ocean dream- Zeus guests must have been very content after the festivities. Watching someone sleeping is quite intimate, and one sleeping one couldn’t know them being watched. Therein lies something forbidden and vulnerable, the voyeuristic gaze externally towards the innocence of sleep.

These days, when all have cellphones with refined cameras the possibility to capture moments is present everywhere at all times. Thus, the need of laws and regulations present itself in regard of the question of consent for example people sleeping. Qui dormit non peccat – One who sleeps does not sin. But perhaps the photographer?

Peirone examines this relationship with the suite Diamonds Dancing. The lighting for the photoshoot was placed so that the sculptural quality of the bodies emerged, a wink to the neoclassical era and the sculptures at the Hermitage museum.

The pictures shine with fragility and vulnerability, and they catch moments that aren’t usually immortalized. We associate confetti with festivities and joy, but the works whisper something beyond this, that everything has its time and its ending.

Valter Sydén

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Under en resa till Sankt Petersburg där Peirone besökte Eremitaget föddes embryot till sviten Diamonds Dancing. I muséets väldiga samling återfinns mängder av exempel på neoklassicistiska skulpturer, bland andra De tre gracerna av Antonio Canova. I skulpturen avbildas de tre mytologiska flickorna Euphrosyne, Aglaea och Thalia – Skönhet, Charm och Glädje som är Zeus döttrar, de underhöll gästerna vid fester hos gudarna.

I Peirones fotosvit Diamonds Dancing avbildas flickor efter festen – de ligger på marken, har somnat, möjligen däckat och den sista konfettin har fallit till marken. Konstnären bildsökte på Google ”drunken girls” och fann att det var som en egen genre, det kryllade av bilder på internet med däckade tjejer ute på stan eller i lägenheter. Dessa fungerade också som inspiration till fotosviten. I verket Ocean dreamligger tre tjejer hopkurade och till synes utmattade – Zeus gäster måste varit mycket förnöjda efter festligheterna.
Att titta på någon som sover är intimt och den sovande kan omöjligen veta att denne beskådas av någon. Däri finns något förbjudet och utsatt, den voyeuristiska blicken utifrån mot den oskuldsfulla sovande.

När alla har mobiltelefoner med avancerade kameror, kan ögonblick fångas direkt, överallt hela tiden. Då föds genast behovet av regler och lagar för fotografi, då den som inte vet att den fotograferas, exempelvis när man sover, inte kan ge sitt samtycke. Qui dormit non peccat – den som sover syndar icke. Men kanske den som fotograferar?

Peirone undersöker detta förhållande i Diamonds Dancing. Ljuset i fotografierna sattes så att det skulpturala skulle komma fram i kropparna, en blinkning till det neoklassicistiska och skulpturerna på Eremitaget.

Bilderna lyser av skörhet och utsatthet, och de fångar ögonblick som oftast inte är föremål för förevigande. Konfettin ger associationer till festligheter och glädje, men verken andas något bortom det, att allting har en baksida och ett slut.

Valter Sydén

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