Lot 45: Torsten Andersson (Swedish, b. 1926)

Tygskulptur
oil on canvas
55 1/8 x 47 1/4 in. (140 x 120 cm.)
Painted in 2001-2002

Antwerp, Zeno x Gallery, 22 March - 26 April 2003.

To Paint What Has Never Been Seen
This particular painting shows a sculpture made of cloth, which certainly never existed in any other form than as a painting.
This is a paradox typical of Torsten Andersson whose headstrong artistic style ever since the 1950s has ploughed its very own furrow in Swedish art life. Periodically, these works of art have remained invisible because the artist believed it offered him the opportunity to work outside the constraints of Time, the monster demanding so many concessions and compromises from us. When he finally released his works to the public they instantly became yardsticks for other artists seeking their own freedom and integrity, and filled the rest of us with wonder.

Torsten Andersson started painting in the enthralling years of the 1950s between the constructivism of the time and a lyrical abstraction derived from nature. He soon discovered that he sought neither, art was not style. He was filled with untold stories and they demanded an untested and a new mode of expression, a personal way of expression that nevertheless avoided the private. This made him experiment with how far one could distance the sign from the signified without letting the pictures lose contact with the motives. Next to his forcefully coloured paintings of vegetation he hang a plank painted black to symbolise the surface of water (in Moderna Museet, Stockholm) or one painted red to symbolise the setting sun. These paintings were much discussed not least among his colleagues. After this discussion he withdrew and when he returned he came with paintings showing phenomena and other works of art that had never existed anywhere except in the paintings. There was everything from seriousness to hilariousness but, above all, a compellinng presence.
These unmatched forms and shapes demanded attentiveness and respect for their individuality. In the "sculpture paintings" of recent years the different cloths have reappeared like trivial reminders with their squares, stripes and dots. A new paradox is created. While the depicted material feels safe in their triviality the 'sculptures' become ever more unsettling and enigmatic. By painting something very tangible and concrete that does not exist anywhere but on the painted surface he gave the paintings a strong integrity. Watching these pictures is like touching lightly the sense of living for the first time.

We are grateful to Olle Granath, Permanent Secretary, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.

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