Astrid Svangren: Personal Statement

A playful and insprirational monongraph on a superb painter! From the publiser: Over the past two decades, Astrid Svangren has distinguished herself as an exceedingly prolific and perceptive visual artist in Denmark and abroad. Personal Statement is her first major monograph, bringing together Svangren’s most significant works alongside a comprehensive interview by Christistine Antaya – as well as new essays by Emily Berry, Estelle Hoy, Ferdinand Ahm Krag, Gertrud Sandqvist and Juliette Desorgues. Rather than a chronological review from A-Z, the publication presents a poetic and organic narrative – in terms of both content and design. In creating a visual and physical space for Svangren’s works, the book encourages readers to form their own impressions and stories. With Svangren’s work as its focal point, the book also puts highly urgent topics on the agenda: our connection to shared history, to nature and to each other. The effect is particularly forceful in turbulent times such as these, when the borders between the digital and physical, the foreign and familiar, and war and peace are both tenuous and highly charged. Also the position and importance of art in such times of crisis are reflected upon, but Svangren refuses to over-explain. Art should be experienced, not deciphered. These are among the matters explored in the interview by Christine Antaya included in the book: "When I speak to critics and art historians about painting,I’m sometimes struck by how theorizing and talking never really gets to the core of what painting is about. Painting is about tactility, touch. That can’t always be put into words. I try very hard not to think about what painting is supposed to look like, or what is expected of a painter. Really good art comes when you don’t think about who it’s for."