#insight | Art World

#MACFOCUS: SIRI KOLLANDSRUD

Artist of the week

Il #MACFOCUS di questa settimana è dedicato a Siri Kollandsrud, artista le cui opere sono esposte alla galleria Ribot nella mostra “Living Yellow Light” fino al 27 gennaio 2024.

Siri Kollandsrud says that the inspiration for the title of this exhibition came by chance. Walking down the street, an inscription affixed to an advertisement as an exhortation caught her attention. “Live green.” This invitation stood out on the billboard and prompted the artist to question the meaning of these words. Clearly, it is not possible to interpret its literal meaning; we are faced with a paradox, a kind of rhetorical figure that nevertheless ignited reflection and prompted her to replicate the absurd formula, albeit filled with meaning.

Living Yellow Light is her proposal. Color and light thus take on a vital character; they are not simply functional means of representation, rather they become the representation itself, which opens toward an otherworldly, spiritual and mental dimension. It is a title, therefore, that is also a statement about her own painting. After all, looking at the works this is immediately evident. Light and color determine the form, there is no study that precedes the painter's action, but only the gesture that incurs and moves forward freely until, brushstroke after brushstroke, the work is concluded. There is no forethought, rather knowledge and experience. This settling of the oil on the canvas betrays the intensity of the compositions, the material claims its texture and settles on the painting, leaving a glimpse of the brush stroke. Even when the iconographic themes become closer to figuration-curious is Kollandsrud’s interest in the motif of the Annunciation, present in no less than three of the works on display-there is no literalness, only residues of reality. A column, an architectural Greek decorative border, a vaguely anthropomorphic and never defined presence, remain as traces of an earthly spatiality that swells with air and seems to levitate the painting. This is a form of abstraction rooted in the tradition of the historical European avant-gardes, indeed one is reminded of Kandinsky and of Mondrian’s Trees, artists whose work opens up to a significant spiritual and philosophical dimension that that is never dogmatic (Green on red (2019) and Light shadow (2019) are the most immediate examples of such proximity). Abstract language on the one hand, but also much more, all with the naturalness of someone who has made their knowledge their own, made it DNA and therefore does not need to superstructure thought, they simply execute. Another root of these paintings is definitely the Informal.

Siri Kollandsrud, Living Yellow Light, 2023, installation view @RIBOT Ph. Mattia Mognetti

Reading the texts dedicated to the artist, there is never a lack of mention of this “world.” Informal, however, is a very wide container, which gathers in itself various declinations: the gestural; the material; the chromatic. Where, then, does this reference come from? The idea is probably to trace her work back not so much to the specificity of a current, but rather to the intensity and atmosphere that, at that moment in history, ran through Europe, the United States and even Japan like a continuous line and that swept away the rules of form in favor of the experiential dimension of the work. The fading of one color into the other, which in some paintings more than others can be read approaching the works, and that sense of airiness that the artist infuses into the representation, perhaps also thanks to the unusual and recurring presence of white, nevertheless seem to refer more strongly to the artistic proposals of the masters active in America in the mid-twentieth century and orbiting around the New York School, from Rothko and company to more lateral experiences such as that of Philip Guston. It is in this idea of laterality, also characterized by a surreal streak, that Kollandsrud’s work is situated. Eternally new because inherently vital.

Siri Kollandsrud, Blue Box, 2022, oil on canvas, cm 150x120

Siri Kollandsrud, Never forget, 2023, oil on canvas, cm 150x120

Siri Kollandsrud, Mirror picture, 2022, oil on canvas, cm 80x70

Siri Kollandsrud, Hangaphone, 2022, oil on canvas, cm 150x120

Siri Kollandsrud, Wind borne, 2020, oil on canvas, cm 150x120

Siri Kollandsrud, Airomanic / out of order, 2021, oil on canvas, cm 150x120

Siri Kollandsrud, Annunciation, 2011, oil on canvas, cm 153x134

Siri Kollandsrud, Announciation, 2018, oil on canvas, cm 40x30

Siri Kollandsrud, Annunciation, free after B.F. Angelico, 2021, oil on canvas, cm 120x150

Siri Kollandsrud, Red roundabout, 2019, oil on canvas, cm 100x80

Siri Kollandsrud, Light shadow, 2019, oil on canvas, cm 100x80

Siri Kollandsrud, Green on red, 2019, oil on canvas, cm 100x80

Siri Kollandsrud, Living Yellow Light - Tutto Cambia I, 2023,mixed media on paper, cm 41.5x29.5

Siri Kollandsrud, Living Yellow Light - Tutto Cambia II, 2023, mixed media on paper, cm 41.5x29.5

Siri Kollandsrud, Living Yellow Light - Tutto Cambia III, 2023, mixed media on paper, cm 41.5x29.5

Siri Kollandsrud, Living Yellow Light - Tutto Cambia IV, 2023, mixed media on paper, cm 40.3x30.3

Siri Kollandsrud, Living Yellow Light - Tutto Cambia V, 2023, mixed media on paper, cm 41.5x29.5

Siri Kollandsrud, Living Yellow Light - Tutto Cambia VI, 2023, mixed media on paper, cm 41.5x29.5

Siri Kollandsrud, Living Yellow Light - Tutto Cambia VII, 2023, mixed media on paper, cm 40.3x30.3

Siri Kollandsrud, Living Yellow Light - Tutto Cambia VIII, 2023, mixed media on paper, cm 41.5x29.5

Siri Kollandsrud (Oslo, 1963, lives and works in, DK) studied at Billedskolen, Copenaghen, 1966-1988, and at Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin, 1996-2000. Her solo and group exhibitions have been held in: Nunu Fine Art, Taipei, 2023, 2016; Spanien19c, Aarhus, 2023; Haderslev Art Association, Hadersley, 2022; Kunstvinduet, Copenhagen, 2020; Galleri Skelderhus, Munka Ljunby, 2019; Associazione Culturale Atelier, Rome, 2016, 2008; Museumsbygningen, Copenhagen, 2016; Museo Hendrik Christian Andersen, Rome, 2015; Associazione Artistica Laboratori Incontri D’Arte L.I.Art, Rome, 2006; Accademia di Danimarca, Rome, 2006; Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, 2000, 1999, 1996.

Residences and prizes include: Queen Ingrid’s Roman Foundation, Copenhagen, 2015, 2012, 2008; Accademia di Danimarca, Roma, 2015, 2012, 2008; The Danish Arts Foundation, Copenhagen, 2014, 2013, 2011; Xucun International Art Festival, Xucun, 2013, 2011; Circolo Scandinavo, Rome, 2007, 2004; Norwegian Art associations, Oslo, 2007. Her works today are present in important museums and public collections such as: Xucun International Art Community, Xucun; Hygum Art Museum, Lemvig; The Danish Arts Foundation, Copenhagen; Arthotek Zentral - und Landesbibliothek, Berlin; Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skårhamn.

#MACFOCUS è la rubrica della Milano Art Community che propone approfondimenti sulle gallerie d'arte contemporanea, fondazioni e spazi no profit più interessanti di Milano e sugli artisti da loro selezionati.

Per maggiori informazioni Ribot Gallery