Rickard Sollman
What role does colour play in your work?
I want to make physically strong and colourfully effective paintings. Scale and foreshortening are very important. I am interested in the possibility to make statements about spatial relationships and effects that one can acquire in the exhibition context. What is most poignant in these works is simply that they operate as physical objects even if they are two-dimensional images. The way one relates to them corporeally is of interest to me. I am curious about the moment when expression and content come together and create a whole - how the way the work has been painted correlates with expression. The process of making the work is in itself significant and generates meaning. When it comes to the placing of the works I also try to control the exhibition situation as much as possible.
Emotions and sentimentality?
Normally, I do not select motifs with emotional connotations. I tend to go for motifs which illustrate mechanisms that fascinate me. Sentimentality does not interest me the slightest and I would say that I have totally opposite goals. One might be tempted to invest emotional qualities in some of my works, for example in Filt (Blanket) from 1995-1996, since the depicted item could be found in most Swedish homes of the 1960’s. However, that was not an effect towards which I deliberately worked. The charged, icon-like qualities of the depicted subject were much more interesting.
Anonymity and gestures?
I am very interested in the intense proximity of the painting but at the same time I try to reach a certain anonymity. During art school I had the opportunity to hire an assistant whose task was to make copies of my works. I gave him instructions on how to execute a painting and in the end, we compared the works and their possible differences. It was thrilling to see what relevance and meaning the operations of the individual hand has in the process.
Sketches and seriality?
The work named Position (2000) is constructed according to computer made schema which I made and in which I strove to achieve certain perspectival effects. The starting point with the work was to paint 90° angles. I am after a similar effect in my ‘roof works’, in which I create regulations for myself and try to follow them. To me repetition has importance in the working process itself.
Time-wise, the work named Klon (Clone) from 1996-1999 was the most demanding. I would make a decision every morning about how many lines I would paint, went to my studio and did just that. I have also worked with scale models to be better able to perceive whether the paintings will have the desired effect.
Possibilities of painting?
Painting is a craft. I am interested in the technique. The works themselves consist of multiple layers of paint and varnish. I could of course print out my sketches, but my work as a painter is to find the essential necessity in painting through reduction.
Time and slowness?
Time has significance in the work process. The visibility of the amount of time one has put into making the works is quite interesting. I like the fact that it takes so immensely long to make these works and that their production has to do with determination. I think that painters are special in that respect because the process itself involves a lot of labour - the material in itself has a built in resistance.
Titles?
The titles of the works provide some information. I like titles a lot. With them, I can give some kind of guidance as to what direction to take in the reading of my work. However, it is very hard not to give away too much. The titles should only give a hint of the direction. I do think that my paintings should be able to speak for themselves and give information that I had in mind when I made them.
Inspiration and influence?
I have always been rather promiscuous in seeking sources of inspiration for my work in the visual arts. The work of Marguerite Duras has always meant a lot. I could also mention the poet Bo Carpelan. In his collection 73 Poems (1966) he compares poetic activity with the attempt to define one's position in a completely empty room without walls or a roof - but with a carefully measured floor. If one focuses on something with
ascetic concentration, it will finally implode.
Kari Immonen
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