STOCKHOLM.- Galleri Magnus Karlsson announces Helene Billgren’s third solo exhibition at the gallery; S som i solens födelse (S as in Sunrise). The exhibition presents mainly new paintings on paper and panel.

Over the past year, Helene Billgren has started to paint on paper. True to her habits, she likes to use existing materials that are already in her studio. When she ran out of panels, her gaze fell on a stack of high-quality paper; an unpublished edition of silkscreen prints with blank reverse sides. This encouraged her to start a series of paintings, which now form the backbone of the new exhibition. The works feature a recurring landscape in varying degrees of abstraction. To find a more open approach to the motif, she decided to paint the images upside down.

I usually use inspirational images. Often several simultaneously for one work. I also hold these upside down. Sometimes I take elements from my own older paintings. It happens that I turn the painting around again when I work, so that the sky becomes the earth and vice versa. No order whatsoever. The motifs are landscapes. Some of my favourite artworks are the Swedish artist Sven X:et Erixson’s paintings of forests with winding roads and water. Always water and mountains. Never rooms with straight walls. The water must rush, dangerously. Far away are the mountains, that must be climbed to see what lies beyond. I have titled my paintings ’Nippon’, which means the origin of the sun. It is about longing, desolation and a little sadness.

–Helene Billgren

In addition to the Nippon series, the exhibition also features paintings on panels, mixed media works and objects in an installation which is characteristic for the artist; open and non-hierarchical. In Helene Billgren’s artistry, even the most insignificant and fragile can become important and meaningful. Her curiosity and restlessness fuel constant development and new experiments. An artistic practice that is meticulously and precisely articulated, even in its flaws and whims. With a personal perspective and unique sensitivity, she leads us down a winding road towards something unknown yet urgent.

Helene Billgren (b. 1952 in Norrköping, Sweden) lives and works in Stockholm. She studied at Valand Academy of Fine Arts in Gothenburg and has exhibited regularly in galleries, institutions and museums since the late 1980s. In 2019, her artistry was recognised with the extensive retrospective exhibition the danger is over at Liljevalchs in Stockholm, Sweden. She has been, and continues to be, a leading figure among her generation of artists and has contributed greatly to increased attention and space for female artists in Sweden. In the 2000s, she had a second breakthrough with a number of painting exhibitions. Her practice today combines painting with drawing, prints, objects and installation. Her works can be found in private collections, regions and municipalities, as well as in museums such as Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Borås Art Museum, Malmö Konstmuseum and Västerås konstmuseum, Sweden. Helene Billgren has also carried out a number of public works and worked with costume and set design for theatre and dance.