ROJ FRIBERG, wax, pencil, pigment on panel, signed RF
"Skepp på havets botten”. 58 x 85 cm.
Insignificant scratches.
"Underrated giant. He has technical brilliance in common with contemporary colleagues such as John-Erik Franzen and Ola Billgren. But Friberg has a metaphysical weight that gives a new meaning to empty phrases about humanism and existentialism. There is also a political, radical dimension here despite the fact that Roj Friberg appeared as a deviant person in the ideologically colored 70s."
From a review in DN Kultur, October 7, 2010
Roj Friberg was a Swedish painter, graphic artist and set designer. Friberg began his artistic studies at Slöjdföreningens skola in Gothenburg and later at Valand Art School.
Friberg used peculiar techniques to express his artistry. He liked to mix graphic prints, drawing and painting, sometimes with unconventional tools such as dental drills.
Many of Roj Friberg's works are close to both photo and film in expression, and are made on specially prepared canvases, for example on lacquered or etched surfaces. Roj Friberg has worked a lot with scenography, together with director Alf Sjöberg and the Cullberg Ballet.
Friberg is represented in most of Sweden's major museums, including the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.
Roj Friberg was born in Uddevalla, he began his artistic career while studying at the School of Arts and Crafts in Gothenburg to later continue at Valand Academy from 1961 to 64. Friberg uses several distinctive techniques. He mixes graphics, drawing, painting. He utilises unconventional tools such as dentist drills. His works can be executed on specially prepared canvases, such as lacquered or etched ones. His visual world is both strongly realistic and dream-like. For a period of time his choice of motifs were relatively political and "alltogether protest-base", such as his famous work "Juntan" from the 1970s. Roj Friberg is represented in several of Sweden's greatest museums and has even done several charitable projects, such as at Östra Sjukhuset in Gothernburg.
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