“To make a concentrated feeling for something, you have to reduce it to the few small things that can tell a story. Then you can make your own history.” - Mamma Andersson
Regardless of his or her chosen medium, we just love a good storyteller, and Mamma Andersson is one of the greats. Collectively, the team at Anthology already owns a fair amount of artwork, but we often find ourselves wishing for more wall space and the ability to expand our collections, especially when we see beautiful dream-like paintings such as hers. Karin Mamma Andersson (Mamma is a nickname that stuck) has created an impressive body of work that has exhibited worldwide, and it’s no wonder she is one of Sweden’s most famous and celebrated painters.
Her paintings, mostly comprised of landscapes and interiors, have an irresistibly theatrical quality. Mysterious, open, and fantastical, the images present the viewer with a constructed yet ambiguous space in which to construct their own narrative. The variations in the paint qualities—undulating thick strokes, translucent washes, and solid abstract shadow shapes—are hauntingly beautiful and wholly captivating. To own a work of hers is to have an escapist world of your very own hanging on the wall, which sounds delightful indeed.
For more information and to see more of Mamma Andersson’s paintings, you can visit the sites of David Zwirner in New York or the Stephen Friedman Gallery in London, both of which represent Andersson. A wonderful hardcover catalog of her work is also available for you book lovers out there.
{Top two images from the Stephen Friedman Gallery; remaining images from David Zwirner}
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