Alex Colard

ABOUT the artist

Katrin Westman is an extremely ambitious young artist. Westman takes the viewer on a journey across the canvas in her sensual and abstract paintings. Along the way she reveals fragments of her process and a deep understanding of colour. The journey begins with an exploration into the history of art. By digging into the past she ends up in the moment and proves that the tradition of painting is always relevant. Working abstractly, she is not content to allow the edge of frame to contain her expression as many of her work adopt a sculptural form and encroach into the room

Katrin Westman, born in 1987 in Örebro, Sweden, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Umeå in 2015. Today lives and works in Stockholm. Works by Katrin Westman can be found in the collections of Stockholm Konst, Bonnier Konstförening, SAK (the Swedish General Art Association), and Kristenhamns Konstmuseum. In 2014, she was the youngest ever to be awarded Kristenhamns Konstmuséum young artist scholarship. In 2015, she was awarded scholarships from the Foundation Anna-Lisa Thomson, and the Eva and Hugo Bergman Memorial Fund and in 2017 she recived Vera and Göran Agnekils scholarship for younger artists.

https://katrinwestman.se/

ABOUT the exhibition 

Galleri Andersson/Sandström is pleased to present its third solo exhibition with Swedish artist Katrin Westman.

“Katrin Westman wants to attract us close to her paintings, lure us in and out of them, make us constantly make new discoveries and set us in motion.” – Mikael Hagner, Barometern

Westman’s work moves between sculpture and painting in a play with the image and the materiality of colour. The painting takes shape against the flat surface of the floor and is processed in thin layers of oil that meets swollen parts. The paint is scraped, erased and brushed on until the drawing hand defines the shapes.

Gradually, the feeling of a form and the form of a feeling appear. An attempt to give life to, embrace and make the work stand on its own two feet. The constant presence of the Baroque era in Westman’s painting is evident in the rich colour of the palette and in the drama, decadence and dynamics of the paintings. From self-composed still lifes of decayed flowers, photographs models of crowds on beaches or sculptures, images arise that form the starting point for Westman’s work on the canvas. A process that exists for the artist beyond the framework of the intellect, which is about liberation and about daring to be changeable in the encounter with the foreign.

In Breath, Westman shows the sculptural potential of painting and the desire to let the viewer meet the works from different positions in the room. The waves form a spatial installation of curved paintings in MDF that lie against the floor together with drops in concrete. In Stay Close, the canvas tries to cling to a steel stand. The painting only gives suggestions but omits the answers.

Katrin Westman was born in 1987 in Örebro. She graduated from the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts in 2015 and currently lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. Westman’s works are found in collections such as Bonniers Konstförening, SAK (Sveriges Allmänna Konstförening) and Kristenhamn Art Museum.

In 2016 she received Vera and Göran Agnekil’s scholarship and a 1-year scholarship from the Konstnärsnämnden (The Swedish Art Council). In 2015 she was awarded scholarships from Anna-Lisa Thomson Foundation, Eva and Hugo Bergman Memorial Fund and in 2014 she received the Kristenhamn Art Museum’s scholarship for young artists, as the youngest recipient ever.

ABOUT the gallery 

Galleri Andersson/Sandström was founded in 1980 and is today owned and operated by Stefan Andersson. The gallery focuses on international contemporary art and represents both well-established names and young emerging artists. The gallery has a special interest in outdoor sculpture and public commissions.The Umeå gallery is located in the city centre of Umeå, next to the river and Kulturhuset Väven. Our visiting address is Västra Strandgatan 9. Currently we are not having any public exhibitions planned and we are therefore open by appointment only.

Galleri Andersson/Sandström opened its second venue, in the gallery district in Stockholm’s Vasastan, in 2008. In the summer of 2012 the gallery moved to a 500 square meter space in the same neighbourhood. In August 2015 the gallery opened an additional show room of 135 sqm and in 2017 we added another 180 sqm showroom on Hudiksvallsgatan 4, making us the largest gallery space in Sweden.

Since 1994, the gallery has worked together with real estate company Balticgruppen in Umeå to arrange one of Europe’s most important sculpture parks, Umedalens Skulpturpark, and in 2016 we initiated a project together with the Royal Djurgården Administration where we during summer presented solo exhibitions at Djurgården in Stockholm. The starting year we showed Tony Cragg, 2017 the honour went to Eva Hild and in 2018 works by Jaume Plena were exhibited. From 2020 onwards Prinsessan Estelles Kulturstiftelse has taken over this project.

The gallery has a unique and diverse exhibition programme in Stockholm and also participates in a number of international art fairs.

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