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 Rhodes + Mann

This Sweet Sickness curated by John Peter Nilsson

Featuring works by: Roger Andersson, Nathalie Djurberg, Jens Fänge, Lagombra [Anders Jakobsen]
Ylva Ogland, Johan Zetterquist, Ola Åstrand.

December 9th - January 30th
Gallery Closed for Xmas [20th December 2004 - 5 January 2005]

Rhodes + Mann are delighted to present a show of new work from Sweden curated by John Peter Nilsson, recently appointed curator at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm.

"This Sweet Sickness" is a group show with 7 Swedish artists (including one furniture designer) that presents the other side of today's welfare state. All artists are dealing with issues that in the first place seem to be
sweet, innocent and normal but with closer inspection are twisted, not only in a social and aesthetic way but also in a political way, sometimes with disturbing and horrifying results.

Roger Andersson's drawings and prints refer to harmless decorative styles but filled with fatal content; Nathalie Djurberg's videos sardonically expose the underlying themes of sex and violence in story-telling for
children; Jens Fänge's paintings often funnily point out the closeness between bad taste and high aesthetics; Lagombra's (Anders Jakobsen) furniture consist of one off creations made out of recycled mass-produced IKEA-products; Ylva Ogland's paintings are beautiful depictions of - heroin; Johan Zetterquist's sculptures and installations propose imploded urban plans; Ola Åstrand's screen prints investigate different degrees of depression created by a society without any social utopias.

The exhibition wants to investigate the paradox between how a modern social welfare policy has created a secure, democratic cultural climate at the same time as resulting in an artistic desire to transgress accepted norms. All seven artists have had considerable impact on the Swedish art Scene over the last two years, but have not previously exhibited together. They also differ in age and artistic background, but what brings them together is their common interest in creating alternative micro worlds that can both be seen as a refuge from existing society whilst holding a mirror to it.

The title derives from a novel by Patricia Highsmith from 1961 in which a man can't let his ex-girlfriend go. He purchases a house and furnishes it just as he knows she would like, then lies abed while masturbating with the thought that "His house had the virtue of never being lonely. He felt Annabelle's presence in every room."

The novel has nothing specific to do with the exhibition. It is more the general idea about having a dream or vision - and the perversions when these dreams or visions never happen as one might have wished. It is a state of mind that might also be a metaphor for the state of many societies today. A state of mind that artists both reflect and try to deny.

John Peter Nilsson, Stockholm 2004

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Rhodes + Mann
37 Hackney Road
Shoreditch
London
E2 7NX

t: 0207 729 4372
f: 0207 729 4754


Gallery open Wed - Sat 11 - 6 and Sunday 12 - 6 or by appointment


Represented Artists:


Nayland Blake USA, Stuart Croft, UK, Layla Curtis UK, Kate Davis UK, Simon English UK, Till Exit D, Oliver Herring USA,
Paul Huxley UK, Bill Jacobson USA, Melanie Manchot UK, David Schnell D.



 

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