Pär Strömberg – Into the Starless Night
30 th of January – 6th of March 2011
Opening: Sunday, 30 th of January 15:30 p.m. by Mr. Hugo Brown
Swedish artist Pär Strömberg presents his new series of paintings in the solo exhibition
Into the Starless Night in Galerie 37 Haarlem, The Netherlands
The paintings of Pär Strömberg show silent landscapes. The works refer to the dense Swedish nature, beautiful but deserted. Just like in nature, the light and darkness are important elements in the paintings. Strömberg paints snow, ice, forests and mountains in his –as he calls them – mindscapes, rich in their deep hues of black, white and grey.
The recent series Into the Starless Night refers to the Three Wise Men in the Bible, guided by the star of Bethlehem. Here Strömberg flirts with the Scandinavian national Romanticism and post-apocalyptic alienation. Inspiration he finds in literature, (Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island en Per Olov Enquist, Captain Nemo’s Library) film and music, and for example in the work of the Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen.
Symbolic imagery plays an important part in his work. Crows as an omen of death, floating between past, future and present. The moon as a guiding light in darkness. He refers to myths and paints them in a contemporary and specific style. These new works go beyond the ambiguous play of darkness and light. Strömberg carves his own path into the starless night, where viewers may enter at their own risk.
Strömberg (Örebro, 1972) lives and works in Amsterdam and Stockholm. In 1999 he finished the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. He has had numerous solo and group shows in Sweden, The Netherlands and abroad. In 2002 he won the Wim Izak price and was nominated four times for the Koninklijke Schildersprijs. His work is represented in several art collections. At this moment he also teaches at the Örebro College of Art in Sweden.
Pär Strömberg – Into the Starless Night
30 January – 6 March 2011
Galerie 37
Jedithja de Groot
Groot Heiligland 37 | 2011 EP | Haarlem | 00-31-(0)6-10142540 |
info@galerie37.nl ( released at the 20th of January 2011) www.galerie37.nl (new website at the 20th of January 2011) | open: Thursday – Sunday 12 till 17 p.m.
