Martin Wickström: 10-20

Mountains and building facades are occuring motifs in Martin Wickström's work. This monumental book summarizes 10 years of his prolific practice - producing some 230 art works. From the publisher: Martin Wickström är en svensk målare och installationskonstnär. 10_20 är en vacker och monumental bok som i form och karaktär följer den 2009 utkomna boken 99_09. Den beskriver de senaste tio åren av konstnärligt arbete. Utdrag ur Joanna Persmans huvudtext till boken: Martin Wickström personifies something akin to this. While being curious about the world at large, he is also a dedicated painter, a storyteller, who has become known for his photo-realistic suites, among other work. He is quite literally inspired by most things that enter his field of vision including world news and history, old newspaper clippings, scientific findings, the great masters and pop kitsch. In Wickström’s paintings, the world finds itself reflected: the Swedish People’s Home movement, the play of reflected light as the sun casts its tentacle-like shadows upon a New York façade. Following a logic of their own, images glide into each other with a dynamism characterised by vibrant colours, bold cropping and shifting formats. The linearity of the narrative begins to disintegrate. People – known and unknown – come and go, while yesterday turns into today. Memories both personal and collective are interwoven, nostalgia and humour combined. Time is constantly being devoured by its own manic forward progress. Like a bookkeeper of individual and collective memories, Martin Wickström keeps time in check and, through his art, creates a sense of now at the border crossing between the past and the future. In his exhibitions, he switches between painting and the use of various items and everyday objects, which together form total installations with a will of their own. Through his art, we are immersed in a world which, though similar to our own, is nevertheless unique, and where everything balances on the mighty threshold between reality and its magical mirror image.