Astrid Svangren

Text from Moderna Museet, "Modernautställningen" 2010.

"The hub of Astrid Svangren’s oeuvre is colour. As language, metaphor and material. As a visualisation of speech, thought and perception. How colour is applied, wiped off, how its fluid lightness is absorbed by the hardness of the base, how it spreads like a bruise on the skin of the painting – all this is relevant.
The paintings serve as sidekicks in a drama directed by the artist. They mark out the conquered territory in an ongoing process. Her imagery has taken on a more spatial character in recent years, and her works often consist of paintings that are extended by the addition of various materials. The paintings are covered in exquisite, sheer fabric or thin paper that contrasts with the mute exclusiveness of the Plexiglas sheets. Isolated objects are placed around the room as reference points, creating a dialogue with both the paintings and the viewer – in this case, a wooden tub inspired by the ascetic Shaker culture. Yet, all the objects are part of one single work.

Astrid Svangren’s site-specific installation is about purification and exaltation. Thus, even the absence of colour is significant, with nude reflections and scratched traces in the Plexiglas like memories of eroded activity. Her method is both controlled and tentative, with an aesthetically refined style that is counterbalanced by the violently powerful application of paint."