Rolf Hanson

Lars Nittve writes in the foreword to the exhibition "Rolf Hanson - Retroactive" at Artipelag in 2021.

“I think about Rolf Hanson's colors. What is it that makes one always recognize a painting by Hanson – despite them appearing outwardly different? Often abstract, rhythmic, somehow intricately pieced together, thoroughly kneaded, but sometimes, as we've seen, also skewedly figurative, remarkably halting, yet still whole? The color schemes can, as we’ve noted, vary from the almost monochromatic, perhaps heavily, darkly red like the triptych Beoumga (1991), to completely bursting with color, like a firework display. Yet there remains a certain thread connecting works from Woolai to later beauties like Hic et Num 2015 and Hic et Num 2013. One can certainly recognize a preference for certain colors, such as golden ochre and perhaps different shades of blue or oxblood red, but it’s mostly about the tonality in various chords, right? Again, this jazz?”

Lars Nittve likens Rolf Hanson's painting to a form of virtual jazz, a sophisticated musical genre with great complexity and variation. In today's accelerating world of visual image consumption, viewers seek to move beyond the superficial, drawing deeper stimulation from the complex interplay between disparate components within a work.

In the series Superficie Picturata, Rolf Hanson returns to a color palette reminiscent of the 1980s. Warm orange, dark red, and sections of golden ochre are balanced with accents in grey-blue, stabilizing the composition. The spatial depth in the background seems blocked, and Hanson once again achieves a compact visual surface. The title Superficie Picturata suggests just that—a painted surface or a superficial painting. Yet the result is anything but superficial. Hanson's painting holds a glowing abstract expressionism, where the color fields are pieced together in a multifaceted rhythm. The bold and individualistic style, combined with the large format, overwhelms the viewer.

Since his first major solo exhibition at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1985, Hanson’s painting has generated significant interest. In 1988, he was chosen to represent Sweden at the Venice Biennale, and in 1995, it was time for his next museum exhibition, this time at Rooseum in Malmö, where Lars Nittve was director and curator. This was followed in 1998 by an exhibition at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. In 2006, another museum exhibition was held at Dunkers Kulturhus in Helsingborg. Today, Rolf Hanson is one of the most important artists of his generation in Swedish art, and in 2021, "Rolf Hanson Retroactive" opened at Artipelag outside Stockholm, the most extensive exhibition of his works to date.