Matts Leiderstam: Blick
22.8-21.9.2008
Kalhama & Piippo is pleased to open Swedish Matts Leiderstam’s solo exhibition Blick. Leiderstam has examined different ways of seeing, for example historical paintings or landscapes, in his work. By using different media – photography, painting, moving image and installation – Leiderstam offers the viewer alternative ways of seeing. In his exhibition at Kalhama & Piippo the artist continues to examine the gaze. What is it we see? In what ways do we see? How do we intrepret what we see?
Leiderstam is known for dealing with questions of for example an artworks relation with ownership, time and place, genres of art and original vs. copy. In the exhibition at Kalhama & Piippo the artist presents both new and older works that highlight important themes in his body of work. The point of departure in Leiderstam’s work is his personal experience of historical art works. He acts as both artist and viewer as he investigates the works from museum collections and archives from a contemporary point of view. As he is creating something new, he is simultaneously examining history and seeking underlying meanings and structures. Leiderstam’s working method could be compared to that of the scholar or researcher. He collects material, investigates, studies and analyses. A similar approach is required of the exhibition visitor and the ideas and thoughts of the viewer become a part of Leiderstams conceptual works.
Landscapes and portraits are in focus in the exhibition at Kalhama & Piippo. In the work He and She (2000) Leiderstam confronts the viewer with questions about the character of portraiture and the identity of the pictured people. What do we actually see? A husband and his wife? A role play? A reflection of the artist himself? For his work Leiderstam had two portraits painted by Isaac Wacklin in the 1750s photographed. The original paintings can be seen until 7th September at Sinebrychoff Art Museum, at the Wacklin exhibition. In Leiderstam’s work the paintings have been depicted on easels without their frames to recreate the atmosphere of the moment when the portraits were painted.
The work Provenance (2007) examines questions of the orgin, creation and life cycle of a work of art. Leiderstam studied several paintings by Jan van Goyen. The landscapes from the mid 17th Century all depict the town of Dordrecht in Holland. Today the paintings are scattered around the world in different collections. Leiderstam did extensive research to the provenance of the paintings, with focus on the work in the collection of the Swedish National Museum. The result is an animated videowork which reunites the landscapes by Goyen.
Even the Helsinki cityscape is observed from an alternative angle in the exhibition. Through a telescope on the gallery terrace the exhibition visitors can study the life on Mannerheimintie and Kaivopiha square.
M.A., Art Historian, Mikaela Lostedt
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Matts Leiderstam (b. 1956 in Gothenburg) lives and works in Stockholm. Leiderstam studied at Valand School of Fine Arts in Gothenburg and Royal College of Art in London in the late 1980s. His solo exhibitions have been seen in Sweden, Europe and North America and he has actively participated in group exhibitions around the world. In 1997 he participated in the Venice Biennale. His exhibition ”Grad Tour” toured from Magasin 3 in Stockholm, 2005, to Göteborgs Konsthall in Gothenburg and from DCA in Dundee to Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. In 2007 Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe presented a large retrospective exhibition of Leiderstam’s work. In the fall of 2008 he will participate in the Guangzhou Triennial in China. Between 1997 and 2001 Leiderstam held the position as professor at Malmö Art Academy where he also obtained his Ph.D in Fine Arts in 2006 with the dissertation See and Seen – Seeing Landscape through Artistic Practice.
Gallery Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary