Ola Billgren "Terrain Vague"

Extract from text by Bo Nilsson

The painting Terrain Vague (1987) is highly characteristic of Billgren’s production from the late eighties. Like in several paintings from this period one gazes down from a great height. In contrast to Utsikt från en katedral I (1987) and Utsikt från en katedral II (1988) it isn’t a static viewpoint like from a church tower. Here it is a moving viewpoint that’s the subject – easily identifiable as an aeroplane. From the aeroplane’s constant movement you look down upon the big city with its complicated infrastructure of intersecting roads and architectural environments. It’s a metropolis reaching as far as the eye can see, making it difficult to get an idea of the city’s structure. It’s probably this spatial disorientation that has given the painting its title, Terrain Vague, after the French term for an area of no clear identity. An area on the precipice between city and countryside. In other words a kind of limbo, neither one thing nor the other.

Ola Billgren ”Målning”

A common thread that runs through Ola Billgren’s artistic production is his ability to formulate the relationship between art and reality, as well as to capture the moment and create a unity between the historical and the contemporary.

Billgren’s visual art, especially from the 1960s, may seem accessible in a realist manner and almost cinematic expression. ”Målning” (Painting), executed in 1968 – 69, depicts a young woman’s backside. She probably plays the main character in a bigger scene than we only can imagine. A bright light shines into the room, widening the viewer’s vision despite its narrow perspective. However, the real action takes place closest to the viewer, where a doll thrown on the floor creates drama. The child on the right side of the picture is clinging to its mother in a hesitant forward movement. Is the woman alone with the child in the room? Is she waiting for someone, or has someone just left the room? These details create a suggestive atmosphere.

Ola Billgren's interest in finding role models in other visual fields, such as film, brought with it a composition with slanted perspectives, "cut-in" details, close-ups that were “zoomed in” and taking over the main role in the image, which otherwise only suggests the presence of people. It also brought with it a narrative that was both laconic with a certain mass-media romanticism, but also evocatively inaccessible, in its motifs, which characterizes many of his paintings from this time. Painting 1968-69 is an exceptional example and a very important work from that particular time.