Stina Rosenberg, “Frivilligt fast/Willingly bound”
Stockholm, 19.2–27.3 2011
Stina Rosenberg graduated with an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Umeå less than two years ago. Now she is taking on Galleri Andersson/Sandström in Stockholm with her distinctive form of abstract expressionism. Her paintings are vividly playful, yet bewilderingly calm.
The title, “Willingly Bound”, lights upon a multi-faceted idea which characterizes several aspects of Stina Rosenberg’s universe. In part it relates to her approach towards painting, as an ever-present need for self-expression. Her devotion to art is not a choice, but rather a necessity. However, the title also alludes to the movement within the paintings. Within their abstract color-clusters, strokes of paint snag onto each another in ever-growing circuits. Each brushstroke possesses an individual freedom, yet they are simultaneously interdependent. As well, the title alludes to the ubiquitous human ability for discovering passion, or for allowing oneself to be discovered by passion. For Stina Rosenberg, painting is the essential thing.
Stina works intuitively, using color and form in her focused, improvised method of painting. Prior to each studio session, parameters are chosen for which colors and utensils will be included in the process; the finished paintings are the final evidence of this process. These works are painterly stills, which embody the creative trajectory of their development. Their expression is forceful – in the underlayer, rich swaths of color are applied with large scrapers – yet at the same time sensitive, with its layers of feathery brushstrokes, frequently in broken, nearly ethereal colors.
Stina Rosenberg seldom works on canvas; instead she prefers painting on fiberglass fabrics nailed directly to the wall, or, as in this exhibition, on primed aluminum plates. Sometimes the distinctions between the paintings and their overall surroundings are blurred, in installations where the materials wander away from their intended boundaries and out onto the walls. Rosengberg: “While painting, surrounded by color, I feel most at home. The studio space grows and can house endless combinations of both this and that, there is room for everything. My approach is straightforward, guided by color. Sometimes, I paint quite quickly, while sometimes I gently apply the color with a careful, delicate motion. One must make decisions – and I am willingly bound.”
Stina Rosenberg, was born 1981 in Örebro, Sweden. She graduated with an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Umeå in the spring of 2009, and has since then participated in several group exhibitions around the country. Rosenberg is currently operating in Stockholm and this exhibition at Galleri Andersson/Sandström is her first major solo exhibition.