'ragnar persson'
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.
safe henry darger where the wild things are artist collective tema klaipeda fortification godnatt we like america and america likes us kader attia cindy sherman salon gallerinatten malmö; lisa jeannin and rolf schuurm unknown pleasures art in public space ac/dc kulturhuset charlotta östlund jesper nordahl norrtälje konsthall nimis flisby sew together leif holmstrand maarit-suomi-vännänen guido van der werve little boy elements wanås katarzyna josefowicz market 2011 levi van veluw kasparov anne thulin lászlo moholy-nagy gary carrion-murayari round buildings gdansk cultural capital 2016 daniel hoflund vernacular artists the national public art council nationalgalleriet pink poodle germany zombie-walk cca laznia gdansk performance baltic sea cultural centre kunsthal charlottenborg carina reich chaos roundabout supermarket 2011 caravansarai kulturcentrum ronneby henrik lund jørgensen marianne lindberg de geer peter johansson badewanne south baltic cross-border programme bill viola julita wojcik goldin+senneby anders krisar lisa jonasson elastic lisa jeannin åsa maria bengtsson ice-hole swimming tova mozard remi malin holmberg malmö konsthall slussen annika ström artur zmijewski american folk art museum monsters galeria ime bulgaria game of tag bruce high quality foundation chopin galeria biala the experiment white cube public sculpture lars brunström kultivator blekinge museum richard long galleri c hjärne lecture concert seven days in the art world; sarah thornton bruno martelli museum of visionary art kara walker lars vilks storytelling ferry project esther shalev-gerz maman carpets johannes nyholm rolf schuurmans janek simon roald dahl hanna ljungh malte axelsson jenny holzer the ocean stockholm city planning linn fernström caravansarai istanbul kunsthalle rostock dunkers art line maria friberg gdansk city gallery kalmar konstmuseum cca laznia bo christian larsson maria duncker baltimore blekinge institute of technology anna lundh eu-application kerry tribe knutte wester circel symbol francesco bonami walead beshty roxy paine ingmar bergman kimmo schroderus silhouettes albertus pictor magnus wallin social realism avam eija-liisa ahtila kajsa dahlberg process of sorting and throwing sergei muchin rabbits migration art collections wol ragnar persson ludwigslust concrete walls bogdan szyber ghardaia ncca kaliningrad crossmedia iwona zajac twilight zone laznia cca marina abramovic kinetic sculpture parade; american visionary art m magnus bärtås kaliningrad marianne vitale mnky bzz group public art work sharon hayes bruno liljefors 1500 visitors at opening whitney biennial 2010 galleri 21 filippa barkman nummer twaalf ari saarto moderna museet submarine uss-torsk louise bourgeois rumänska kulturinstitutet glitch art arx der wanderer; elina brotherus; torbjørn rødland tatu jan cardell cheering-machine drawings angus young spatial planning oscar guermouche ann edholm vilniuis art academy supermarket art fair danuta kuciak fireworks brucennial nathalie djurberg anna nawrot meissen new york kr wp conceptual art poland kate gilmore artillery berlin storks' nest; signs sluss-trollen rull tales from the forest fantastic mr fox grand opening the f-word noora schroderus wanås; ann-sofi sidén a game of chess anita malmqvist modernautställningen 2010 rauma biennale balticum producers anna brag paul neagu rebecca hoffberger ruth gibsson eu joseph beuys spunk lisa gerdin caspar david friedrich karlskrona konsthall paul van der hoet helene hortlund horse kristianstad konsthall mariusz tarkawian war moma new york justyna kuklo alessandra da pisa lithuania kinetic sculpture parade
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