Art Week Stockholm Featuring A New Location For Art Supermarket

Art Supermarket

This years Stockholm Art Week started off with two of the biggest auction houses in the area, having openings for their Modern auctions. Bukowskis and Stockholm Auktionsverk gathered design and art lovers to see everything from Axel Einar Hjorth to Olle Baertling. Liljevalchs has it´s tenth edition of Art Market, where 35 of the best selected nordic galleries show their pieces. A debate has risen on the issue of 40% of the galleries being Danish and whether the selection process is fair, since some board members are tied to a gallery themselves. 

The Museum of Photography has it´s own Photo market gathering Europes top photo galleries. And the book fair, is a must if you´re in town. See the weeks exhibitions etc here on www.stockholmartweek.com/calender

The most engaging event happening during art week would be a visit to the independent Supermarket Art Fair,  always worth while. Supermarket is the so called affordable art fair (but with serious art) that gathers art from many parts of the world. Great quality on the level of Art Market but with prices that are very reasonable to most budgets. Most of the artists presented are up-and-coming or just started to find their way so there´s always the chance to buy art from the next “Damien Hirst” without emptying your bank account. The fair takes place in the Black House/ Svart Huset next to University college of Arts, Crafts and Design. Sadly the inside venue this year felt a bit confusing, in a thrown together maze. Luckily the cutting edge work of many of the galleries and artists made up for it! Here are some of my favourites that made this an event not to miss, from this years Supermarket.   …

Gocart gallery presented the best performance with it´s travel agency “Krolik tours”. A humorous presentation filler with wit and sarcasm and a large Swedish self-awareness. In the sofa two quite rabbits wait with their bags while the travel agent picks up visitors to engage in a old school travel booking experience.

Craftsmanship meets male dominated street art. Needle point graffiti was one the biggest wow-moments at the fair. Needle point might reach it´s first renissance since the 1800s thanks to Laura Ortiz Vega. An patient artist who sees her time-consuming art as relaxing. Much of the graffiti she portrays in her work is inspired by her native surroundings of Mexico City. The Mexican gallery Antena Studio, based in Mexico City focus on manual creation of art with an contemporary statement is also shown in Gregorio Barrio Montouas work, “Untitled”. A skull constructed of glass beads and wax. Montoya and his family, Huichol artists from San Andrés Cohamiata, Jalisco use a long tradition of technic with new material. Antena Estudio impressive gathering of artist will surely keep impressing us in the future, I truly hope to see more from them. 

Kaisu Koivisto´s travels to the north to buy her items to use for her sculptures, re-cycled material with electrogalvanized steel turned into “Mountain shoes” and “Transformative Powers“ 

Galleri Tegen2, Stockholm showed Linda Shammas work based the Islamic and Christian legends of the Seven Sleepers. The photos of sleeping people through the ages fascinate and so does Lars Brunströms Stray dog from 2001. Dogs were in the legends guardians of sleepers. The gallery has a interesting focus on historical and religious aspects of art.

Dienstgebäude gallery, Zurich, showed work by Colin Guillemet “Impressions” 2013, a original photo of a sunset/rise is placed in a copying machine and the copy is then copied etc. The images becomes more faded and abstract and creates it´s own image. 

The lack of contemporary exhibition space in Albania made artist Olson Lamaj create the installation “Contemporary art Studio” in a abandoned shelter. This illusion of art space increased the willingness to find a solution. In 2012 Lamaj became co-founder of MIZA Gallery, Tirana, the artist run space hosts projects and lectures in hope increase the debate around the Albanian contemporary art.   

Words/Photos: Josefina Mandaric  Stockholm Correspondant © Artlyst 2015 Top image:  Linda Shamma and its called “Älg i postformulerat tillstånd

Art Week Stockholm 14-19 April, 2015

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