Galerie Forsblom April 7 – April 29, 2017
Opening with the artist in attendance, April 6, 2017, 5.00 pm – 7.00 pm
Galerie Forsblom is delighted to open a new exhibition in its studio space featuring small-scale drawings and collages by Hans Andersson (b. 1979). The young Swedish artist owes a visible debt to modernism, yet in its texture, patterning and treatment of materials, his oeuvre is highly reminscent of oriental textiles and Persian rugs.
Andersson’s technique is process-oriented. It draws on the legacy of modernism, particularly the spontaneous sense of motion captured by American abstract expressionism. Andersson draws circular shapes of various sizes and proceeds to fill these round forms with improvised, geometrical linear patterns. As the process unfolds, the patterns evolve into organic, rhizome-like networks. Showing a brilliant command of the fine balance between detail and sweeping movement, Andersson infuses his work with a distinctly meditative quality.
Andersson’s collages consist of found materials – such as paper – which define the basic direction of the process. The artist then cuts and pastes his found materials, building up countless layers until they eventually create the illusion of three-dimensionality. He constructs his compositions intuitively, guided by colors, contrasts and mental associations. His collages comprise a wide range of elements ranging from photographs from family albums to textiles, silk paper and cardboard.
Andersson graduated from the Konstfack University College of Arts, Craft and Design in 2005. He has received several awards and grants, including grants from the Helge Ax:son Johnson Foundation and Sweden’s Arts Grants Committee. He has exhibited extensively in solo and group shows in Sweden and internationally. His works are represented in many key Swedish collections such as the Malmö Art Museum and the Swedish Association for Art. Andersson is based in Stockholm.