Ola Billgren
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"Capri II"
Signed Ola Billgren and dated -96 on verso. Oil on canvas 111 x 101 cm.
Provenance
Galerie Leger, Malmö.
Collection Anette von Rosen, Drottningholm.
Exhibitions
Bror Hjorts Hus, Uppsala, "Ola Billgren: Rött!", 27 November 2010 - 16 January 2011.
More information
In the essay, “In the magic sphere of red” (I det rödas trollkrets), Douglas Feuk decribes the creative work of Ola Billgren in the 90s as a dual process of destruction and painterly refinement. Billgren deliberately scrapes through the wet layers of paint with a metal object, forever altering the original image.The motif, taking a starting point in a photograph, becomes blurred and
enveloped in a warm red light. The shades of red will become darker and closer to violet during the late 90s. The painting “Capri II” evokes a night-time scene which appears as a dreamlike and evasive memory. The red color contributes to the sensual experience, and is, in a way, a message without a sender.
Ola Billgren is represented in several museums, including Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Gothenburg Museum of Art, Malmö Museum, Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, Museum für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte in Lübeck, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaeck. His works are also included in the collections of Lund University and in the collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
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.