Author name: Odalisque

Bateau Rouge, an Interview With Constance Tenvik text Astrid Birnbaum Celebrated for her mastery across performance, textile, sculpture, costume, painting, and drawing, Constance Tenvik stands as a visionary artist, crafting immersive installations that resonate globally. The upcoming exhibition at The Munch Museum in Oslo will no doubt elevate Tenvik to new heights. Whether nestled in artist retreats or exploring new countries, she seamlessly transforms each environment into a curated extension of her vibrant creations. In this global artistic journey, Tenvik’s oeuvre un- folds like a sophisticated maximalist, weaving together narratives, colour theories, and ex- aggerated forms that enchant discerning audiences. Drawing inspiration from the tapestry of humanity, dreams, and mythological fragments, her paintings intricately interweave, creating a chromatic collage that transcends conventional boundaries. Tenvik’s artistic allure has graced exhibitions across the world, solidifying her presence as a revered artist whose work resonates with the global artistic conscience. Astrid Birnbaum: Constance, I would like to begin this interview at the beginning. You are Norwegian but you were born in London in the year of 1990. As a child and teenager – did you surround yourself with creative things?Constance Tenvik: I was dancing Jazz-ballet four times a week and every other weekend until I was 16. I was also singing in a church choir for two years that I ended up in accidentally. I wanted to give emotional support to my friend by showing up with her to the choir audition. I ended up being in the choir but not her. I actually liked it a lot. I was not a perfectionist about it but I liked being part of it. We had a few concerts in the concert house. The nice thing about a choir is that if you leave while everyone is singing, no one will notice. If two people leave, it’s fine. If three people leave it really makes a difference. It’s not really about you, but you are necessary for the choir. I was a child when I picked up some parts of my dads CD collection that had everything from funk to Mozart’s Requiem. There was always music in the house. As a teenager I tried to find excuses to draw, I liked reading books and I was in a poetry club. I was already writing a diary. I still do, every day. I think a lot of artists have a need of documenting and remembering moments and making them last longer. I have recorded many things in my life – small things like everyday conversations, food, music and interactions. AB: When growing older you studied art. You went to Yale University School of arts where you did your masters degree. How were your years in art school?CT: My undergrad experience at the Academy of Art in Oslo gave me a good foundation. I still keep in touch with some of my professors from back then and remember things they shared with me. The Yale experience felt like I was building a vault of my interests. I had access to most courses across all fields, which is incredible. You could go to the biology department if you wanted to – you could go everywhere to learn. My daily route was studio – library – home. That was my little world there. I’d go to the Be inecke library for old manuscripts and I’d go to the HAAS library after studio visits when someone had just mentioned ten new artist names. I could then find a bunch of books about these artists and just flip through it all. Having libraries like that so close and in such an elevated environment – it really helped me build my world of thoughts and references. I am still ruminating over the things I learnt and the academic interests that were formed there. I was in the sculpture department, my studio was messy and full of experiments. I made a lot of things – like a bathtub out of paper mache with a three-breasted monster in it. “I seek more freedom through my paintings,” says Swedish artist Malin Molin as we stand in front of Dear eyes, what are you looking at?, one of her works from her current solo show, Ekfraser. Born in Gothenburg in 1989, Molin is exhibiting for the second time in a solo show, Ekfrases (Ekphrases), at Gallery Wetterling in Stockholm. Derived from the Greek ekfras, the title describes a commentary on a visual work of art, with the artist intending to offer a commentary on today’s culture of image. Molin says she has an ambiguous relationship with the images we see online, and in our everyday lives. She is equally fascinated and enthralled by the neverending stream of imagery that can be found online, while also rebelling through her paintings against these same images deciding so many things for us, without us even being aware of it happening. The starting point for the colour-saturated paintings making up the exhibition are prompts given to AI software, such as Open Ai’s Dall-e 3 or Midjourney. This is an essential part of Molin’s attempt to understand the systems of image production that shape our reality, desires, minds, and bodies while counterbalancing these systems with oil painting. “I wanted to bring the flat images we see online and bring more movement, more body, more physicality to them. I believe that paintings offer the possibility of more immersion, more interaction and more awareness of your physical body,” she says about the movement, and livelihood even, present in her works. Rather than focusing on their visual meaning, Molin aims to draw attention to how the images were constructed. While the images are mostly inspired by animal and vegetal motifs, they are characterised by artificial lighting and a pinch of eccentricity. “I always feel a sense of dread before an exhibition and a feeling of it not being good enough,” she confesses. This time these feelings pushed her to start working on one more addition to the exhibition just two weeks before the

Until the Morning, in Conversation With Sophie Allgårdh & Katarina Löfström text Natalia Muntean We can talk about Katarina Löfström’s art and describe it in different ways, but to me, it’s poetry. It’s both poetic and cerebral,” says Sophie Allgårdh, curator of “Visions,” an exhibition featuring video works and sculptural installations by Katarina Löfström, at the Thiel Gallery in Stockholm. Often referred to as Stockholm’s hidden jewel, the Thiel Gallery exhibits a unique collection of Nordic late 19th and early 20th-century art, hosting the largest and most significant Edvard Munch collection outside of Norway and works signed by Rodin, Vigeland, Carl Larsson and others. Starting on May 25th until October 20th, the museum will host “Visions.”. Born in 1970 in Falun and currently living and working in Stockholm, the artist Katarina Löfström will exhibit pieces created from 2001, such as “Whiteout”, as well as newer works; some inspired by the Swedish painter Stefan Johansson (1876–1955). Johans- son’s bold studies of light are displayed alongside Löfström’s work in an exhibition called “A New Light”, on show at the Thiel Gallery from March 23rd to September 1. With a background in creating scripts for pop videos for the likes of Madonna and Prodigy, and at certain points in her life hosting bootleg clubs, Löfström takes a lot of inspiration from electronic music when creating and trying to achieve almost the impossible – visualising music and trying to grasp the intangible. “I work mainly with video in close connection with sound or music. These ideas of music and visuals having an almost sacred bond have always been there, and I try to find that perfect balance between the music and the visuals. Some of my works depict light and explore the different ways it can be used for meditation or contemplation,” says Löfström. This fascination with light became her connection to the Thiel Gallery and the paintings that adorn the museum’s walls. “Many of the paintings from that era depict twilight, early mornings, and nights that are almost entirely illuminated with very little sunset. This makes them particularly special for Nordic art because these kinds of evenings are unique to this part of the world,” says Allgårdh. Löfström’s art is ethereal, quiet even, and it invites you to sit with it. To sit with your emotions and yourself. This feeling is strengthened by the history and gravitas of the Thiel Gallery, whose walls have witnessed countless stories of the human experience. “I create situations where hopefully I can let things be open and let you find a platform where you can think and judge for yourself. I work intuitively and art is a free space for me where I don’t have to perform intellectually. I try not to overthink while I’m working,” says Löfström. When asked about her hope for the exhibition, Löfström says that she would want the works from the permanent collection to be the gateway into her work because they all try to grasp the intangible – understanding the condition of being human. “Something that I recognise within my perspective when I look at the artists that are in this collection, is the interest in the human gaze: the way you look at things, how you deconstruct an image, and what is it that you see,” says Löfström. She applies this skill to her work, breaking down and reassembling topics that capture her attention. During the time of Signe Maria and Ernest Thiel, the ones who commissioned the villa at the beginning of the 1900s and built the permanent collection, the large gallery halls served as a stage for art in all of its manifestations. Any expression of artistry, whether music, poetry, philosophy, or dance, was present in the villa, embodying the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk – a cradle where various forms of art created by different artists come together to form a unified whole. This legacy is something the museum preserves through exhibitions and a dynamic programming that bring together different iterations of art and create a contrast to the sobriety of the permanent collection, this being the case with the ethereal nature of Löfström’s work. “Katarina is shedding a new light on the permanent collection, putting it into a new setting, and giving it a different understanding,” says Allgårdh. “I think it’s interesting how she has evolved and has become braver but still kept true to the core of her art. The moving images are still there.” While abstract, her work always reflects a concept or an idea that she is drawn to and wants to express and is inspired by personal issues that she needs to address, but her themes are universal. “We’re so similar to the people who once frequented this house,” says Löfström. “Those artists had the same longings, the same core as any person. We all go through loss, angst and love.” The Thiel Gallery, beautifully set in the Royal Park of Djurgården in Stockholm, houses a world class collec- tion of paintings and sculptures by Nordic artists from the turn of the century 1900. Temporary exhibitions are arranged year around. Café Monika Ahlberg offers lunches and homemade cakes with outdoor serving in the sculpture park during spring and summer. In the museum shop you find unique products inspired by the art collection. Bus 67 and Boat 80. Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday 12 pm–5 pm(May–September: Thursday 12-8 pm).