Linn Fernström
Linn Fernström, "Hålen i händerna".
Signed and dated 2009 verso. Ink and oil pastel on paper 66 x 50 cm.
Not examined out of frame.
Provenance
Lars Bohman Gallery, Stockholm.
Exhibitions
Lars Bohman Gallery, Stockholm, "Linn Fernström", 9 February - 21 February 2010.
More information
Linn Fernström is an artist of contrasts. Extremes meet in her often large canvases; the beautiful encountering the grotesque, the idyllic clashing with terror, the ethereal mixed with power, and the momentous interplaying with the trivial. When all is said and done perhaps Fernström is an artist who paints ‘Life’. Without judging the ingredients that fill our days and years with events and impressions according to some assumed criteria, Fernström allows them to figure indiscriminately and interact together in a place decided upon by the artist. Fernström is a conductor who with an iron fist leads an experimental orchestra. Does this sound paradoxical? Perhaps, but therein lies her particular strength and originality.
Linn Fernström holds a unique position in Swedish contemporary art. Headstrong and insistent, completely uninterested in trends, she has created her own platform. And she is liberatingly brave too – painting large and figuratively in a time when, for many years now, art discourse has focused on research and process. Fernström debuted in 2000, the same year she graduated from the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. Since then she has exhibited both in Sweden and abroad. Fernström has brought a Nordic tradition, where painting occupies an important position, into the 21st century. Her work is represented in, for example, the collections of Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Malmö Museum, Borås Konstmuseum and Linköpings konstmuseum.
Artist
Linn Fernström is a Swedish artist born in Örebro in 1974. She studied at the Idun Lovén Art School and continued her education at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm between 1995 and 2000. In 1999, Fernström held her first solo exhibition at Galleri Mejan, which marked the beginning of a successful career that included several major solo shows, such as Liljevalchs in Stockholm.
Fernström's paintings often feature a bright background combined with strong, vivid colors. Her subjects revolve around people and animals, spanning between idyllic and nightmarish, playful and serious themes. With light brushstrokes and an airy composition, Fernström addresses themes such as death and love. It's challenging to discern whether the figures are flying or falling as she experiments, plays, and moves objects around; birds, injured bodies, monkeys, balloons, and plants. Her style often embodies realism with nods to classical painting infused with elements of symbolism and surrealism. Her paintings can be monumental in size, and Fernström enjoys depicting herself. Her renowned works have fetched high prices at art auctions during the 2000s, such as ' De tre kvinnorna,' 'Ballongerna', and the self-portrait 'Bortbytingen'.
Linn Fernström's works are represented in collections such as the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Malmö Art Museum, and Linköping Art Museum.
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