Barbro Bäckström
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Sleeping (Sovande)
Signed Barbro Bäckström and dated 1971. Iron mesh 55 x 80 cm, mounted to cardboard 65 x 90 cm.
Provenance
Bukowski Auktioner, Vårens Moderna Auktion 507, 27 April 1998.
Private Collection, Stockholm.
More information
'I love life, but I hate reality.' Barbro Bäckström is said to have had a note with those words in her studio. Perhaps that is why she was so drawn to the structure and malleability of iron mesh. It gave her the artistic freedom to work with physical, human forms while still retaining the weightlessness and softness that is far from the heaviness of traditional sculptures. The bodies balance between reality and dream, between the material and the dissolved.
Bäckström's works carry with them a human presence and spiritual force, which is also discernible as a common thread throughout Barbro Bäckström's entire oeuvre, whether it concerns wall reliefs in iron mesh, plastic, or aluminum, or the many public sculptures she has created.
Artist
Barbo Bäckström was a Swedish sculptor and visual artist born in Djurö in Stockholm’s archipelago. She studied at Konstfack in Stockholm. She is most known for her sculptures and reliefs made of iron mesh. She has created numerous public sculptures, many of which can be found in Malmö and Lund. The forms which Bäckström works with are derived from nature. Using iron mesh, Bäckström creates human figures, often women, and details of bodies into poetic visions. Light and delicate like thin fabric, they hang freely in the space, the light protruding through the mesh, formulating an unique assortment of shadows, depth and beauty. The material is often aluminium, bronze and iron.
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