Ann-Sofie Claesson: One Life
Galerie Forsblom Stockholm
October 4–November 10, 2019
Opening in the presence of the artist, October 3, at 5–7pm
Ann-Sofie Claesson's (b. 1992) artistry is anchored in universal themes such as time, memory, identity and family. Similar to painter Gunnel Wåhlstrand, Claesson departs from black and white photographs depicting late relatives, oftentimes captured by her paternal grandfather. An eagerness to explore painting by way of processing and employing these photographs in various ways is joined with an attempt to reconnect with relatives who were lost to time. Even if, and knowingly, that the rapport is reduced merely to the mediation and confinement of imagery.
At Galerie Forsblom, Claesson presents a new series of paintings which pays homage to her paternal grandmother. Most of the works have been brought forth with a technique hatched by chance in the studio. Initially layered with a primer, the canvases are pressed with a sheet of paper while the paint is still wet. As a result, texture and a distinctive pattern reminiscent of those found organically in nature are rendered on the surface. The motifs, marked with an apparent whiff of the past, are meticulously painted only to be treated to the pressure of the paper once more before completion. What remains are fragmented images, seemingly in the process of dissolution. The aesthetical qualities of the works bring to mind the transient nature of time and life. Fleeting moments which will never reoccur beyond the images left behind, and the memories of which, like the motifs in Claesson’s works will eventually vanish one day.
Ann-Sofie Claesson has since graduating from the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2018 exhibited in a solo show in the studio of Galerie Forsblom in Helsinki. Her works have also made part of group exhibitions at venues including Liljevalchs, Stockholm, Sweden, Amos Andersson’s Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland and Borås Museum of Modern Art, Borås, Sweden. Her work is represented in the permanent collection of Uppsala County, Sweden.