Jacob Dahlgren

(Sweden) *1970 in Stockholm

A world full of abstract motifs: this is how the Swedish-born artist Jacob Dahlgren perceives his environment. During his art studies in Stockholm he became particularly interested in geometries and colours. By serially repeating the everyday in his works, Dahlgren strips objects of their function and makes them part of an overall design. Thus he laid out 144 bathroom scales to form a chessboard tableau. Visitors are able to stand on the scales and experience how an everyday object can be turned into art. Dahlgren has already exhibited similar works all over Europe as well as in the US. In Blickachsen 12, two of his works made of coloured glass strips are on display. They interpret the principles of constructive art – geometry, line and abstraction – in space. As though one could see right through them, the world behind is split into areas and lines. Here, the way the artwork is experienced also plays a large part: seen through this latticework, the surrounding space changes with the observer’s position. The work is only created in the location in which it is displayed. And in the process Dahlgren shows that one can paint pictures even with glass or bathroom scales: the boundaries between painting and sculpture become fluid.