The Snail's Trail. Walking, watching, playing, sleeping, smoking, reading: the paintings on display depict people doing ordinary things, a series of isolated actions. Bjerger has built up a library of research material from out of date reference books, travel journals and instruction manuals.
An exhibition of new paintings by Swedish artist Anna Bjerger.
Walking, watching, playing, sleeping, smoking, reading, these
paintings are of people doing ordinary things, a series of isolated
actions.
Bjerger has built up a library of research material from out of date
reference books, travel journals and instruction manuals which she
sifts through and filters over time - referring back to and editing.
The build up of a body of work involves searching through this pile
of visual material trying to find the missing pieces of the jigsaw.
There is a starting point and there is a succession; each choice
carrying the piece forward allowing it to evolve in a chain reaction
of images and events.
Through the directness of the paint handling and the treatment of the
image Bjerger is striving to escape the nostalgic qualities often
associated with figurative painting allowing her to approach them in
unexpected ways. The image is recontextualized, unanchored from it’s
literal, intended reference allowing a shift away from the generic
toward the personal. The act of being remade in paint allows
interpretations beyond the initial content of the image; allusions
appear allowing new relationships to form between the works.
By specifically selecting images where the viewpoint appears
unambiguous we are forced to look at these images from the
protagonists perspective. In this way the images bare similarities to
film stills, we are only shown a fragment of an on going action
allowing the paintings to trigger the imagination. As a collection of
short stories can create a whole through their idiosyncratic
qualities Bjerger wants this body of work to be individually self
contained but connected and experienced as a whole.
As the title suggests, we are presented with a slow, meandering
journey through the landscape leaving a trail, a trail of paint.
This will be Anna Bjergers First Solo Exhibition at David Risley
Gallery. Anna Bjerger lives and works in Sweden. She studied painting
at the Royal College of Art, London and has been showing
internationally since. She has recently had exhibitions in Stockholm,
Chicago and New York. Her work is included in the collections of
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Gävle Landsting, Sweden, Larsen
Collection, Stockholm, Zabludowicz Collection, London and many
important private collections.
Private view Friday 4th July 6.30 – 8.30
David Risley Gallery
45 Vyner Street - London
Opening times: Wednesday – Sunday 12.00pm – 6.00pm or by appointment
Free admission