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Niklas Engvall
Relationship to tradition?
First of all, I have to say that I like and enjoy
paintings. Within the larger framework, I am mostly interested
in two paths. They are the 1970s Swedish painting and
the Italian Renaissance. By the former, I mean the political
realists of the time, artists like Peter Tillberg and
Ola Billgren, whose social and political comments and
views I strongly relate to. I respect their aim of trying
to use art to tell something about their surroundings
and reality.
Within the Italian renaissance, I am fascinated by, for
example, Fra Angelico, Giotto and the Lorenzetti brothers.
Here again, I sense this immense need to tell stories,
to pass on information and opinions. I am talking about
the narrative within the image. How they picture a human
being, what they do and what their relationship is with
architecture. On a broader scale, it is about what can
be read from the picture about the relationship between
individuals and society.
The possibilities of painting?
Well, I don’t really know. All I can say is that it
functions as a medium for me. Sometimes it is just the
best way to express things. And that is reflecting the
contemporary situation and society, in which I live and
of which I am a part. It is a convenient medium for me,
because I know how to use it and also since everybody
knows what a painting is. So being familiar with painting,
makes it less problematic to relate to. I reflect often
critically but always very subjectively. Obviously, on
the level of images, my works are about common places
and settings, but I want to stress my own version and
take them on. In my paintings of particular buildings,
shopping centres and working places, I illustrate our
societies’ central structures. The point is that I choose
something, edit something in and at the same time exclude
other aspects and implications.
What do you read?
I am actually very much into reading sociology. The
reason is rather simple. I feel that they speak on another
level about similar things that I want to focus on. I
am very fond of Zygmunt Bauman, who has vividly described
the problems and possibilities of contemporary societies.
Another one, and quite different, is Jürgen Habermas,
who unlike Bauman often gives clear alternatives and suggestions
about what to do and how to choose.
In terms of my own work, I can mention an article by Colin
Rowe and Fred Koetter, called Collage City, which served
as a comment for a project that I did. It was not a painting,
but a kind of miniature city that I built, a small world
of its own. The work was entitled Tryggare kan ingen vara
(No-one can be more safe), which has another dimension
of connotation, because it refers to one of the most popular
children’s psalms in Sweden.
Relationship to the chosen subject?
I am familiar with most of the places that I use in
the paintings, and this knowledge is important for me.
I also use pictures which I have no connection to, like
images found in magazines, advertising houses for sale.
I am aware that it is easier for me to paint the places
I know. I tend to choose very common pictures, the typical
ones, in which there are no people; photos trying to show
the whole house and so on. The strategy of alienation
is important for me. I was born into a society that claims
to be free and cherishes freedom of choice, but which
is so strongly structured that it limits and cuts down
the so-called freedom. This aim of complete control is
at the very heart of modernity and its principles. These
are the ideas I criticise. It is a criticism of lack of
freedom of choice, lack of ability of individuals or groups
of individuals to decide what they want to do and be.
I try to get hold of the feeling that everything has already
been done, in the best way, by someone who knows better,
someone unreachable (for example, a government, a company,
a brand).
The chosen subjects symbolise the idea how someone
with my background is supposed to live and think. The
meaning of life is to fulfil a society’s visions of total
order. You have to struggle to get out of that ready-made
path.
Narrative elements in your work?
They are very central in my works. I believe that
artists are like commentators, telling stories. So, even
if the autobiographical elements are not at the core,
my work is about my versions of how to live, right now
and right here. It is about the kind of life and existence
that one is doomed to live. It is consequently about my
worries and sorrows, about how our lives are formed and
what they look like. I am trying to figure out how society
and its structures shape and mould individuals.
Mika Hannula
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Niklas Engwall
From the series State of Emergency
1996-2001
oil on canvas, 125X 175
photo: Gabriel Hildebrande
Niklas Engvall
From the series
State of Emergency
1996 – 2001
oil on canvas
125 x 175
photo: Gabriel Hildebrande
Top and below: Niklas Engvall
From the series
State of Emergency
1996 – 2001
oil on canvas
125 x 175
photo: Gabriel Hildebrande
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