Multiple V

19 Jul-9 Sep 2022

Overview

Stephen Friedman Gallery is pleased to present ‘Multiple V’, an exploration of Andreas Eriksson’s print practice over the last two years.

The presentation brings together a range of media including screen-print, lithography, etching and drypoint. The Swedish artist is known for his subtly textured depictions of the natural world, describing them as “existential landscapes”.

Highlights include ‘Vanland', a striking screen-print edition produced in collaboration with Kunstatelieret in Copenhagen. This meditative work expands Eriksson’s formal language whilst remaining characteristic of his distinctive style. Hovering between abstraction and figuration, it draws the viewer into a rich conceptual investigation of the artist’s rural surroundings in Medelplana, Sweden.

Meticulously placed areas of colour and shape create a patchwork of ambiguous forms which flow around, merge and collide with each other. Rendered in a subtle palette of earthy and botanical hues, the composition recalls topography as well as details such as trees, earth and rock formations. Spanning dualities such as lightness and heaviness, illusion and reality, ‘Vanland’ presents a complex reflection of the artist’s nearby landscape.

This survey of Eriksson’s broad choice of media and techniques includes a selection of monochromatic prints, conveying the artist’s use of line and mark-making to portray nature.

Explaining the use of printmaking in his practice, Eriksson said:
“Since the question of 'how to do something' and 'materiality' are two key concepts in my work, printmaking, as a medium, has always been a fertile ground for my working method. The materials and processes specific to each printing technique lead the way for me in the creation of the images. At times when my everyday work in the painting studio is slowing down, it is usually working on prints that gets me back on my feet. The process is rejuvenating, in this way, because of the playfulness allowed by the techniques and also the collaborative back and forth with the printer.”