Text by Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, Dominic Molon, Laura Hoptman.
Swedish painter Mamma Andersson works between domestic interiors and the Nordic landscape, often layering imagery to create subtly haunting, dreamlike atmospheres. Drawing from a variety of sources--from the narrative suggestiveness of cinematic imagery to the physical space of theatrical sets--Andersson employs disjointed perspectives and mismatched spatial relationships to create an eerie sense of the otherworldly. Her palette is seductive yet muted, applied in both soft washes and thick brushstrokes, with blank areas sometimes left on the surface of the painting. Andersson's imagery often includes windows, reflections and depictions of other paintings, to further destabilize the spaces she paints. This volume is published on the occasion of Andersson's first one-person U.S. museum show at the Aspen Art Museum and provides a broad overview of her work.
Featured image, "Park," is reproduced from Mamma Andersson.
"Andersson’s works represent emotional states difficult to depict, conveying longing as well as a sense of the fleetingness of time. The majority of Andersson’s works are devoid of figures. She creates a stage, a frame for actions past or just ahead. When a person is included, the facial features are almost always obscured. Gender, ethnicity, age, or other markers of identity are only sometimes discernible. She focuses on structures, primarily interior spaces that are domestic and often emotionally charged, the remnants of events alluded to by the placement of objects or works of art. She also paints lush landscapes. But these, too, are never pure landscapes, often bleeding back into interior spaces and exhibiting similar traces of human presence… Andersson paints as if she knows that other people will stand in front of her works alone. The viewer is a witness to the moment just before or just after, to the setup or the aftermath. Often, it is difficult to tell which. Narratives are suggested, but never consummated. The artist both allows and expects the viewer to figure out what is happening. She provides the framework, outline, or architecture, but then it is the viewer’s prerogative to assign meaning, based primarily on personal interests and experience. She captures, if not celebrates, the emptiness, the boringness of the everyday, hinting that these are felt most strongly in solitude."
FORMAT: Pbk, 7.5 x 10 in. / 200 pgs /illustrated throughout. LIST PRICE: U.S. $35.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $40 ISBN: 9780934324502 PUBLISHER: Aspen Art Press AVAILABLE: 2/28/2011 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by Aspen Art Press. Text by Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, Dominic Molon, Laura Hoptman.
Swedish painter Mamma Andersson works between domestic interiors and the Nordic landscape, often layering imagery to create subtly haunting, dreamlike atmospheres. Drawing from a variety of sources--from the narrative suggestiveness of cinematic imagery to the physical space of theatrical sets--Andersson employs disjointed perspectives and mismatched spatial relationships to create an eerie sense of the otherworldly. Her palette is seductive yet muted, applied in both soft washes and thick brushstrokes, with blank areas sometimes left on the surface of the painting. Andersson's imagery often includes windows, reflections and depictions of other paintings, to further destabilize the spaces she paints. This volume is published on the occasion of Andersson's first one-person U.S. museum show at the Aspen Art Museum and provides a broad overview of her work.
