Thursday 04.08.2016

KUNSTHALLE São Paulo presents Astrid Svangren

Astrid Svangren
«it is the rite that creates the room
it is translucent like amethyst
it happens between life and my identity
it is something that I can not think
it is a movement
it is the rite that will be my mirror»
 

Opening: Thursday 04 August 2016, 7pm


Exhibition until 03 September 2016


 
Continuing the project Divine Horizons, KUNSTHALLE São Paulo invites Swedish artist Astrid Svangren (*1972, Gothenburg) to present her first solo exhibition in Brazil. Working mainly with installation and painting Astrid Svangren produces works that are more a reflection on the process through which they are made, rather than just finished objects. The artist is not interested in telling a story, what matters for her is the time she spends in the studio, and the connection that it is established between her and the installations. In this very intuitive and meditative practice, she seeks to let it go, not to be afraid, and just find her own way, coming into contact with memories, feelings and sensations. She tries to catch a feeling and transform it through the materials.

Making art becomes a ritual. In the same way as in the Brazilian Umbanda rituals, in which a medium gets into a trance and other entities speak through her/his body, the state of mind reached in the studio allows the artist to connect to her own spirituality, without the need of any external stimuli. Other artists reached this state of mind to produce their works, such as, Hilma af Klint, also from Sweden, who, in the same way as Svangren, was very much connected to Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophical ideas. Also influenced by female writers such as Algerian/French Hélène Cixous and Brazilian Clarice Lispector, Astrid Svangren produces works that reaffirm the power of woman, but in a very ethereal and sensuous way. Through her installations she reveals a beautiful feminine sadness and almost decadence.

For the exhibition at KUNSTHALLE São Paulo, she produced a sensorial and immersive installation that resembles theater stage, in which the viewer is welcome to enter to observe the several details. Made with natural materials, such as raffia ribbons, cotton tulle, paper, wax, mostly in skin color, the elements hanging from the ceiling render to the installation a living being character, they form a sort of immense cocoon, in which the viewer is embraced and can feel the movement of the objects, as if they were butterflies flickering and dancing around. Besides the skin color, the artist also includes other colors such as purple, which brings a spiritual and intuitive aspect to the work, symbolizing a metaphysical world, and also yellow, present in most of her installations, which refers to creativity, optimism and enthusiasm for life.



Curated by Marina Coelho



With support by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee




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About the artist

Astrid Svangren (*1972, Gothenburg). Lives and works in Copenhagen. She was educated at Malmö Art Academy (1995-1998), Sweden. Among the institutional exhibitions in which she presented her work are:

SOLO SHOWS (Selection)
amongst all sorts of colours, venus hair and a day of thirst, a sleeping jellyfish, it is the memory place, Tranen (2016), Copenhagen; Astrid Svangren, Kunsthalle Nässjö (2015), Nässjö, Sweden; Astrid Svangren, Bonniers Konsthall (2011), Stockholm; What I remember…, Moderna Museet (2009), Malmö.

GROUP SHOWS (Selection)
The Margulies Collection, Warehouse (2013), Miami; Festspillene i Nord-Norge (2013), Harstad, Norway; Wanås Konst 2012, Wanås Foundation (2012), Knislinge, Sweden; Encounter with Hill. Selections from the Malmö Art Museum (2011), Malmö; Contemporary Living, Kiasma (2010), Helsinki, Finland; I love Malmö, Kumu Konstmuseeum (2009), Tallinn, Estonia.

REPRESENTED IN THE FOLLOWING COLLECTIONS (Selection)
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Göteborgs kommun, Gothenburg; Malmö Art Museum, Malm.
 


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About Divine Horizons

The project Divine Horizons consists of a series of two exhibitions at KUNSTHALLE São Paulo of artists whose works relate to spiritual practices, showing different approaches towards the state of spirituality in the contemporary world.



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NEW ADDRESS

KUNSTHALLE São Paulo
Rua Apinajés, 1547
01258-001 - São Paulo - SP
Brazil
+ 55 11 2339 8586

info@kunsthallesaopaulo.com
kunsthallesaopaulo.com



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