ASTRID SYLWAN. Dagen fick en annan ton

Helsinki Contemporary is glad to present a solo exhibition by the renowned Swedish artist Astrid Sylwan. Titled Dagen fick en annan ton, and consisting of bold new paintings, it is the artist’s first show at the gallery in its current location. A solo exhibition by Sylwan was seen at Gallery Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary in 2011.

Each painting in the exhibition reads like a page from the artist’s private diary – all of them different, but together they form a whole that tells a story of her life and her body of work.  In the exhibition Dagen fick en annan ton, the artist visits the themes of life, love and death and, for one of the series in the exhibition, Sylwan has drawn inspiration from the spirits and meaning of Tarot cards. To Sylwan, the cards are like sagas, and Tarot readings are therapeutic, structured conversations that serve as means to pose the questions we sometimes do not dare to ask in our everyday lives: “The cards are visualized tales of states of mind and chapters of all our lives. We can all mirror ourselves in them, they channel feelings from the public to the private. Its a universal, shared experience but my story of death, love, loss, joy is mine alone just as yours is yours. Painting is a state of mind materialised.”

Sylwan is known for her vivid, colourful and expressive paintings. Her works exude an abstract, physical power and assurance as she pours, dribbles and layers pigments on the canvas using spatulas, palette knives and brushes. The strong yet sensitive rhythms, forms and colours of the paintings create an air and an atmosphere to which we can project our own feelings.

“I am in search of honesty. It is a challenge to accept life with all its layers. I want my paintings to be stunningly beautiful and a bit disturbing. Just like life.”

Astrid Sylwan graduated from Konstfack in 2005, and has quickly taken a position as one of Sweden’s most prominent painters; she has been awarded several prestigious grants, exhibited throughout the Nordic region, and her work can today be found in the collections of eg. Moderna museet, Statens konstråds and Malmö konstmuseum. The Stockholm-based artist has also realized public artworks, for example at the Citybana train station in Stockholm.

Astrid Sylwan graduated from Konstfack in 2005. Astrid Sylwan has quickly taken a position as one of Sweden’s most prominent painters; she has been awarded several prestigious grants, exhibited throughout the Nordic region, and her work can today be found in the collections of eg. Moderna museet, Statens konstråds and Malmö konstmuseum. The Stockholm-based artist has also realized public artworks, for example at the Citybana train station in Stockholm.