Jarl Ingvarsson: FABRICAE
Galerie Forsblom Stockholm
January 17– February 16, 2020
Opening with the artist, January 16, at 5–7pm
Jarl Ingvarsson’s artistic work stem from curiosity and an exploration of painting as a media, but also of the material that he works on. In the exhibition at Galerie Forsblom in Stockholm, Ingvarsson has painted on different kinds of textiles; sheets, fiber cloths, sun-blinds and more, found in or close to Borås, a city known for their textile manufacturing business. Liberated from the traditional stretched and framed canvas, Ingvarsson’s paintings are unobstructed. With curiosity and lightness Ingvarsson moves freely between figurative expressionism and abstraction. Abstract color strokes are mixed with objects that caught his attention, like a broken stool, an umbrella, a thermos, a lamp or a coffee-pot. These items are suddenly elevated from ordinary and transformed into symbols, signs or ritual objects. There is an immediacy in Ingvarsson’s work as well as room for contemplation.
Alphabetic characters occur in some of the paintings, although the letters are not always comprehensible. It is in the nature of man, to try to interpret letters or words into a message – but here on the contrary, the signs here rather add to something sacral. In one of the exhibition rooms some of the paintings are hung freely, without the frame to hold them down to the wall, giving the artworks an airy impression. Like curtains moving in the wind or bed sheets hanging outdoors to dry on a summer’s day - it’s like entering a dream or a memory of another time.
Jarl Ingvarsson (b. 1955) graduated from Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, in 1983. Since his debut his works have been exhibited extensively in museums and galleries. Ingvarsson’s works are represented in numerous collections such as the Modern Museum in Stockholm, Borås Konstmuseum, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Malmö Art Museum, Norrköping Art Museum and in private collections. Ingvarsson is a member of the Royal Academy of Art, Stockholm, since 1996 and in 2018 Ingvarsson received the Prins Eugen Medal, for his prominent artistic achievement. In 2017 he had an exhibition at Galerie Forsblom in Helsinki. This is Ingvarsson’s first solo exhibition at the gallery in Stockholm.