Ola Billgren
Covered by droit de suite
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OLA BILLGREN, signed Ola Billgren and dated -72, watercolour.
"Vardagsrum med byrå och väggprydnad". 27.5 x 35.2 cm.
Not examined out of frame.
More information
I Ola Billgrens verk från 1960- och 1970-talen möter betraktaren ofta det som synes vara konstnärens närmaste inomhusmiljö. Med vardagliga ting omgärdar han sina figurakter; möbler, tidningar, cigarettpaket och matporslin. Den aktuella akvarellen från 1972 är ett fint exempel på konstnärens fotorealistiska teknik. Berättaren Ola Billgren ger oss en ögonblicksbild av en rumsdel i sin lägenhet. Med bländande precision avbildar den då 32-årige konstnären en centralt placerad byrå med tidstypisk väggprydnad. Konstnären visar sitt intresse för en bilds måleriska kvaliteter och låter också byråns skarpa detaljerna få sin motpol i bildens omgivande och diffust utmejslade 1970-talsdrag. Fyra år senare utsågs Ola Billgren till Sveriges konstnär inför Venedig-biennalen 1976.
Artist
Ola Billgren was born in 1940 in Copenhagen but based his career in Sweden. Billgren was self-taught, having only been trained by his parents Hans and Grete Billgren. Ola worked within the mediums of graphic art, watercolour, collage, photography, film, and scenography. He was also an author and culture critic. Known for his versatility, Billgren cultivated a relationship between art and reality in his work.
During the 1960s, he transitioned from abstract expressionism to photographic realism. Over time, his paintings evolved into a fusion of abstract and photorealistic styles, resulting in romantic landscapes where he examined the interplay of light and color. Forms dissolved, and colors were reduced to monochrome, single-colored surfaces that were richly worked and varied.
In the late 1980s, he returned to urban environments in large cityscapes, often painted from a high perspective but maintaining the impressionistic approach seen in his landscapes. Ola Billgren's influence on recent decades of art has been significant. His work is represented in institutions such as Musée National d'art Moderne Centre George Pompidou in Paris and Moderna Museet in Stockholm.