'drawings'
A young man is polishing the cold stone-floor with napkins under his bare feet. It is winter cold in Stockholm, but inside Kulturhuset he felt free to take action. He stared behind me when talking.
At first I thought he was part of a performance-program, but after his speech on obligations and authorities I realized he was not. Or at least I think he was not. This man needed to clean the world and why not just start here and now?
Or get in tune with life?
Men seldom take place in the drawings of Ragnar Persson. I could however have sworn I saw a glimpse of the café-man behind a tree-trunk in one of his drawings; he would have fitted into them somehow. Some footsteps away from the café-man, alienated women wanders through forests and meet creatures and animals. The humans never seem to meet one another. Wolves, apropos the debate between urban life and country-life. Horses, as taken from the idol-pages of a teenagers horse-magazine. Birds, hares and bats. Ragnar Persson mixes time and places and creates dreamlike wanderings. Atmosphere of fanzines, death metal and hard rock – in the forest, from which the Swedish people just wandered out of a generation ago. We just believe we are city-people, but we still mentally hit the tree-trunks while walking the streets.
The drawings are hung above the elevator, close to the evacuation door, between help-desks, a stage and the outdoor room the square “Plattan” offers. The exhibition is as made for this place, the content, the hanging, the idea.
Women with black kohl-pencil-lines round their eyes stare somewhere on the side of you, over your shoulder. You want to catch a glimpse of exchange, eye-contact, but they are not there to help you. They are obvious and lost at the same time. Civilization?
The exhibition by Ragnar Persson throws me back to the time when Kulturhuset was my safe haven. One could always listen to LP:s, browse the library or an exhibition, look at people and behave as if it was your living-room, well almost. Different social groups, subcultures and suburbia meet. Diversity as in no other place in Stockholm? Anyone was and is welcome. A man with paper-napkins under his feet for instance.
salon gallerinatten malmö; lisa jeannin and rolf schuurm unknown pleasures art in public space ac/dc kulturhuset paul van der hoet jesper nordahl norrtälje konsthall nimis flisby sew together leif holmstrand ruth gibsson guido van der werve little boy elements a game of chess wanås; ann-sofi sidén noora schroderus wanås grand opening fantastic mr fox levi van veluw sluss-trollen rull storks' nest; signs artillery berlin gary carrion-murayari poland conceptual art daniel hoflund new york meissen anna nawrot kr wp brucennial fireworks danuta kuciak nathalie djurberg chaos roundabout supermarket 2011 supermarket art fair kulturcentrum ronneby henrik lund jørgensen marianne lindberg de geer peter johansson badewanne south baltic cross-border programme jan cardell cheering-machine julita wojcik goldin+senneby louise bourgeois submarine uss-torsk moderna museet nummer twaalf filippa barkman galleri 21 lisa jeannin 1500 visitors at opening bruno liljefors tova mozard slussen annika ström sharon hayes kaliningrad magnus bärtås kinetic sculpture parade; american visionary art m marianne vitale laznia cca twilight zone iwona zajac marina abramovic ncca kaliningrad ghardaia bogdan szyber crossmedia blekinge museum richard long galleri c hjärne lecture concert seven days in the art world; sarah thornton wol museum of visionary art kara walker lars vilks storytelling ferry project esther shalev-gerz eija-liisa ahtila carpets johannes nyholm maman janek simon roald dahl rolf schuurmans circel symbol knutte wester francesco bonami eu-application anna lundh the ocean henry darger where the wild things are artist collective tema klaipeda safe we like america and america likes us kader attia cindy sherman moma new york blekinge institute of technology dunkers art line maria friberg kalmar konstmuseum gdansk city gallery cca laznia bo christian larsson maria duncker baltimore kunsthalle rostock fortification godnatt mariusz tarkawian war kinetic sculpture parade justyna kuklo alessandra da pisa lithuania kerry tribe caravansarai istanbul linn fernström stockholm city planning hanna ljungh jenny holzer malte axelsson walead beshty roxy paine ingmar bergman kimmo schroderus silhouettes albertus pictor magnus wallin social realism avam bruno martelli kajsa dahlberg process of sorting and throwing sergei muchin rabbits migration art collections kultivator ragnar persson ludwigslust concrete walls the experiment lars brunström public sculpture white cube game of tag galeria biala chopin bruce high quality foundation artur zmijewski galeria ime bulgaria monsters american folk art museum mnky bzz group public art work whitney biennial 2010 malmö konsthall malin holmberg remi ari saarto ice-hole swimming åsa maria bengtsson elastic lisa jonasson anders krisar bill viola rumänska kulturinstitutet glitch art arx der wanderer; elina brotherus; torbjørn rødland tatu caravansarai drawings angus young spatial planning oscar guermouche ann edholm vilniuis art academy performance carina reich kunsthal charlottenborg baltic sea cultural centre pink poodle cca laznia gdansk zombie-walk germany kate gilmore nationalgalleriet the national public art council vernacular artists tales from the forest gdansk cultural capital 2016 round buildings the f-word lászlo moholy-nagy anne thulin kasparov anita malmqvist market 2011 katarzyna josefowicz maarit-suomi-vännänen modernautställningen 2010 rauma biennale balticum producers anna brag paul neagu rebecca hoffberger charlotta östlund eu joseph beuys spunk lisa gerdin caspar david friedrich karlskrona konsthall kristianstad konsthall helene hortlund horse
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