Ola Billgren
Covered by droit de suite
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"Nature morte II"
Signed Ola Billgren and dated -93 verso. Canvas 58 x 75 cm.
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Provenance
Bukowski Auktioner, "Spring Contemporary 567", 2012, lot no. 446.
More information
I Billgrens målning, "Nature morte II", sammanförs två viktiga delar av hans konstnärskap; fotorealismen från 1960-talet och fascinationen för ljuset och den röda färgen som var så stark under 90-talet. Stänk av rött började dyka upp i Billgrens målningar under den senare halvan av 1980-talet, bland annat i ”Historia”, 1986, och ”Trettio år i Lund”, 1989. Senare tog intresset för den karmosinröda färgen fart och 1980-talets helvita målningar ersattes av en hel svit av flammande röda dukar. Billgren menade att det röda pigmentet besatt en mångsidighet som andra färger ofta saknade, det kunde uttrycka både liv och värme men också aggressivitet.
I de röda målningarna använde sig Billgren av fotografiet på ett nytt sätt. Den fotografiska bilden fungerade som förlaga, först noggrant avmålad med pensel, rött i rött, och därnäst skrapades motivet bort med en metallrakel. Tekniken erinrar om den fotografiska framkallningens utdragenhet och resultatet blir motsägelsefullt, den fotografiska bilden kommunicerar inte direkt till betraktaren utan finns i fjärran på gränsen till det synliga. Bakom färgslöjorna som rakeln lämnar efter sig skymtar man ofta ett motiv med intima eller romantiska övertoner, en interiör, ett café, en engelsk park.
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.
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