Karl Larsson
Larsson’s works are defined by their wholeness, built from their context, object and perception.
Larsson’s art practice is synonymously linked with his practice as a poet. He has spent two decades on both paths, as an artist and as a poet, editor and curator organiser of poetry projects and magazines. Larsson has published six books of poetry which are available in English and German translations. However, writing is inherently lonely, the writer spending days, weeks and hours unravelling the poetic moment from a sea of other thoughts. The poem is a palimpsest, often abstract and edited, it resides outside the embodied experience. Sculpture, for Larsson, adds a body and a social dimension to the poem. His physical artworks are therefore an extension of his writing, in three dimensions. Each artwork consists of its material base and its allegorical nature. Its significance is brought by a poetic event, a broken narrative, fragility, or strength which can be read in tune with the work from numerous different angles and layers. Obtaining some physicality in production, Larsson’s works are later made by those people reading, examining, and observing them, from their own context.
Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of Hades, guarded the gates of hell to prevent the dead from leaving. Larsson produced this sculpture by creating a 3D scan of the model which combined various parts of toy dogs, which was then rendered in metal out of a solid block of aluminium. The three model dogs were resurrected as one, only after being completely de-materialised into a 3D file. As per the artist, it is Cerberus’ end to guard «the impossible threshold between content and form.» Larsson’s work does not retreat from reality into the surreal but occupies some in-between space. Some works are bold and overwhelmingly positive, others evade and obscure. Stopped By Flowers (2016), presents a promising gesture of pigment-becoming-flowers, fixed to the canvas, just before they disappeared. If there is one structure to bind the artist’s work, it is the umbrella. It is both an off-kilter carriable and saviour in case of rain, representing the bifold nature of Larsson’s work, marrying the horizontal with the vertical, the poetic moment with the prosaic. Represented in Emergency Poem (2014) and Umbrella Poster, Larsson uses the structure as a placeholder for the human body in the very moment where «fulfilled potential and true action» lie. It is here, in the in-between, where Larsson’s works are found, in the poetic moment itself.
Text by Constance Chester
Karl Larsson’s physical artworks are an extension of his writing, in three dimensions.
The problem I always had with writing was how lonesome and abstract the practice was. Sculpture added social dimension and body.
Biography Karl Larsson
born 1977 in Kristianstad, Sweden
Education
2009-2010 Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2000-2005 Konstfack, Stockholm MFA, Sweden
Exhibitions (selection)
2022
IO, Ångströmlaboratoriet, Uppsala, Sweden (SOLO, public commission)
2017
Dinosaur 1857, Oslo, Norway (SOLO)
2016
Leaving the 20th Century Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, Sweden (SOLO)
Camilla, Shanaynay, Paris, France (SOLO)
2015
Commonplace, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland; United States (SOLO)
2014
North Western Prose, Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg, Germany (SOLO)
Twelve Hours (part 2), Galerie Kamm Berlin, Germany (SOLO)
2013
Cut Up, Written Over and Eventually Recovered, Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm (SOLO)
P∞L, Castillo/Corrales, Paris, France (SOLO)
Twelve Hours (part 1), Galerie Kamm, Berlin, Germany (SOLO)
2012
R,A,I,N (Consensus), Signal, Malmö, Sweden (SOLO)
2011
Of or Before the Forum, CAC, Vilnius, Lithuania (SOLO)
The Double of the Object is that I Desire it, Corner College, Zurich (SOLO)
2010
Form/Force, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, Germany (SOLO)
Parrot, Index Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden (SOLO)
Residencies/grants/scholarships
2021 Swedish Academy literary grant
2015 Arts Grants Committee Sweden, Two Year Working Grant
2013 Philipp Otto Runge Stiftung, Hamburg, Germany
2011 The Swedish Academy, Stina och Erik Lundbergs prize
2007 FAAP residency Sao Paolo, Brasil
2006 IASPIS Residency, Stockholm, Sweden
Works by Karl Larsson
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sold
Blushing Carpet
2011 / Hand tufted wool / 120 x 170 cm / 47.2 x 66.9 in
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Carnivore
2013 / Aluminum carving / 22 x 13.5 x 19 cm / 8.7 x 5.3 x 7.5 in
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sold
Emergency Poem
2014 / Metal, pulver sprayed white colour, stickers / 230 x 140 x 140 cm / 90.6 x 55.1 x 55.1 in
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Celestial Walking Stick
2010 / Bronze, acrylic / 115 x 7 x 7 cm / 45.3 x 2.8 x 2.8 in
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I Saw You Believe Me
2014 / Cherry wood / 64 x 77 x 33 cm / 25.2 x 30.3 x 13.0 in
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Make-up carpet
2013 / 5 Handtufted carpets / Dimensions variable
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Involvement
2014 / Silkscreen print / 84 x 58 cm / 33.1 x 22.8 in (framed)
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RGB, Curious?
2016 / Rabbit skin glue, marker, pigment, UV print on cotton canvas / 84 x 58 cm / 33.1 x 22.8 in (framed)
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-ing
2013 / Silkscreen, marker pen / 84 x 58 cm / 33.1 x 22.8 in (framed)
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sold
Saunders Waterford Series (Birthday)
2014 / Silkscreen print / 84 x 58 cm / 33.1 x 22.8 in (framed)
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Some Lines Just Fit the Situation
2017 / Powder coated MDF, stainless steel, PVC, plastic / 95 x 53 x 10 cm / 37.4 x 20.9 x 3.9 in
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Stopped By Flowers
2016 / Rabbit skin glue, oil paint, pigment and UV print on cotton canvas / 84 x 58 cm / 33.1 x 22.8 in (framed)
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The Alternative I Sunthinkable
2017 / Aluminum, kinetic sand, pigment and paraffin on stoneware / 34 x 37 x 40 cm / 13.4 x 14.6 x 15.7 in
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To Think of Bone in Our Time and Age
2014 / Bronze / 24 x 35 x 12 cm / 9.4 x 13.8 x 4.7 in
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Umbrella Poster
2012 / 6 Silkscreen prints / each 108.5 x 77 cm / 42.7 x 30.3 in (framed)
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Washing Rimbauds Heart
2014 / Wood, copper, beach stones / 379 x 309 x 14.2 cm / 149.2 x 121.7 x 5.6 in