Lars Strandh
The Swedish artist Lars Strandh creates paintings of consistent reduction and clarity, which are entirely dedicated to the examination of color. Color is the most important element of his painting, a theme and motif at the same time, because he detaches it from the service of form and brings it to the fore as an autonomous value. Seen from a distance, the paintings first appear almost monochrome, yet the artist builds up his paintings surfaces from many fine, exclusively horizontal lines that are always dedicated to one color. The almost tone-on-tone, freehand yet precise brushstrokes make the viewer's eye oscillate. It is a repetitive, slow, almost meditative process in which the paintings emerge line by line. The concentration and precision of his painting technique becomes apparent on closer inspection, when the many different colors, pigments and hues around the one main color, as well as a multitude of matt and glossy surfaces, become apparent. The artist himself describes his paintings as "polychromatic monochromes".
Sometimes very calm, sometimes vibrating color spaces are created, which draw depth and tension from the light-dark contrasts. A look at the paintings created more recently shows that they have gained in complexity. The application of color and line appears more condensed, but the alternation of glossy and matt surfaces is also more prominent.
Lars Strandh was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1961. He lives and works in Oslo, Norway, where he graduated from the National Academy of Fine Art in 1997.
Born 1961 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Lives and works in Oslo, Norway.
| 1992-96 | Academy of Fine Arts, Oslo, Norway |
| 1995 | Ecole Superieur d´Art, Bourges, France |
| 1996-97 | Master-Student at The National Academy of Fine Arts, Oslo |
Scholarships and Grants
1995 | Erasmus Scholarship for Studies at Ecole Superieur D´Art, Bourges |
| 1996 | The Foundation of Thv. Eriksen |
| 2002-05 | The Norwegian working-grant for 3 years |
2006/01/00 & 1997/99 | Artists’ Consideration Foundation |
2007,-02 & 1997 | The Department of Cultural Affairs Exhibition-grant |
2012,-11,-07,-05 | OCA International Support |
| 2014 | The Artists Association’s Blom Grant |
2016, -12, -10, -06 & 1999 | The Foundation of Ingrid Lindbäck Langaard |
Bibliography
| 2016 | Fifty shades of red, Galerie Renate Bender, Munich |
| 2014 | Faszination Farbe, monochrom minimal konkret internationale Positionen, Galerie Renate Bender, Munich Behind the Horizon, Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils |
| 2013 | International Plein Air Mark Rothko, Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils |
| 2012 | Zwischen Konstruktion und Reduktion 2, Sammlung Hupertz Lars Strandh, Galerie Renatae Bender It’s all about the sea, Galerie Provence |
| 2009 | Lars Strandh: New Works on Linen, Nashville Scene Lars Strandh, New works on linen Galeri Provence Galleri Semmingsen 10-år, catalogue |
| 2008 | Lars Strandh Nord Art 2008 Ausdruck, Position, Spuren |
| 2007 | Open Studios, Artefact Pardo Gallery, Lake Worth |
| 2006 | Konstruktiv Tendens, 25 år Farger og speilinger, Dagbladet |
| 2005 | Paint it black now on exhibit, Asbury Park press |
| 2004 | A show where light is very heavy, New York Times |
| 2003 | Lars Strandh |
Collections and Public Commissioned Arts
The National Center for Contemporary Arts, Minsk
Gemeinde Järfälla Arts Committee, Järfälla
Sammlung der Universität Oslo, Oslo
Mark Rothko Art Center, Daugavpils
Sammlung der Gemeinde Gothenburg, Gothenburg
Sammlung der Gemeinde Värnamo
Ministerium für auswärtige Angelegenheiten von Norwegen, Oslo
Sammlung des Straßenverkehrsamtes, Oslo
Der Schwedische Kunstrat, Stockholm
Der Norwegische Kulturrat, Oslo
Sammlung der nationalen Stiftung der öffentlich in Auftrag gegebenen Kunst, Oslo
Sammlung des Landes Östergötland, Östergötland
H.M. Queen Sonja’s Jubiläumssammlung, Oslo
Sammlung der TELENOR Group, Oslo
Sammlung Maximilian und Agathe Weishaupt, München
Sammlung Hupertz, Hamburg
Museum Haugesunds Billedgalleri, Haugesund
Forum Konkrete Kunst, Erfurt
Sammlung des Unternehmens Statoil, Stavanger
Solo exhibitions (selection)
| 2023 | Bettina Bürkle - Objects/Installation - Lars Strandh - Painting, Galerie Kautsch, Michelstadt |
| 2022 | Recollection, Galerie Nanna Preußners, Hamburg as light transforming color - Kristin Lindberg and Lars Strandh, Drammen Art Museum, Norway Jus Juchtmans - Lars Strandh - Two European Positions in Minimalist Paintings, Galerie Renate Bender, Munich Timeless Lines - Infinies vibration, Radial Art Contemporain, Strasbourg, France |
| 2020 | Selected Poems - New Drawings, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway |
| 2019 | Sisyphus - a one week drawing performance and exhibition, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma (MACRO), Rome |
| 2018 | Joe Barnes - Lars Strandh - The Presence of the Monochrome, Galerie Nanna Preußners, Hamburg |
| 2017 | Lars Strandh Malerei + Sabine Staub Plastic, Galerie Kautsch, Michelsstadt |
| 2016 | Et le ciel etait bleu, Radial Art Contemporain, Strasbourg |
| 2015 | Im Kabinett, Galerie Wenger, Zurich |
| 2014 | Behind the Horizon, Vitebsk Art Museum, Vitebsk |
| 2012 | Being there, Galleri Dag Andersson, Norrköping |
| 2011 | Galerie Oijens, Gothenburg |
| 2010 | Hidden Places, Buderup Ødekirke |
| 2009 | Galleri LNM, Oslo |
| 2008 | Galleri Semmingsen, Oslo |
| 2007 | Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm |
| 2006 | Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo |
| 2004 | Galleri Brandstrup, Oslo |
| 2003 | Gothenburg Art-association, Gothenburg |
Group exhibitions (selection)
| 2023 | Found in the Collection, Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Center, Daugavpils, Latvia |
| 2022 | Norrköping Non-Figuration 2022, Galleri Sander/NP33, Norrköping, Sweden The Spring Show, Galerie Pugliese Levy, Berlin |
| 2021 | The Annual Christmas Exhibition, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway |
| 2020 | The Christman Exhibition, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo Summer time, Galerie Nanna Preußners, Hamburg Bonanza-za-za, Akershus Kunstsenter, Lillestrøm Bien chez soi avec Radial, Radial Art Contemporain, Strasbourg Group Show, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee, USA Punkt und Linie zur Fläche frei nach Kandinsky, Galerie Renate Bender, Munich |
| 2019 | Winter Show - L'hiver à la galerie Radial, Radial Art Contemporain, Strasbourg |
| 2018 | It was one Christmas, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo |
| 2017 | Roter Kunstsalon, Museum Villa Rot, Burgreiden |
| 2016 | Small is Beautiful, Radial Art Contemporain, Strasbourg |
| 2015 | ALLE, Galerie Wenger, Zurich |
| 2014 | After St-Art, Radial Art Contemporain, Strasbourg |
| 2013 | The assemblance of presence, Galerie Wenger, Zurich |
| 2012 | Open studios, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville |
| 2011 | Appartement d'un collectionneur I, Galerie Gimpet et Müller, Paris |
| 2010 | Winter, Galerie Schlegl, Zurich |
| 2009 | What's out there? , Galerie Renate Bender, Munich |
| 2008 | To Be Looked at… , Larry Becker Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA |
| 2007 | Konstruktive Tendenzen, Museum Forum Konkrete Kunst, Erfurt |
| 2005 | Paint it Black, The Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts, Long Branch, New Jersey |
| 2002 | Concrete, Non-figurative paintings in Norway 1920-2000, Lillehammer Art Museum, Bergen Art Museum and Trondheim Art Museum, Lillehammer |
| 2001 | Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo |
| 2000 | G. Keyt Int. Artist Camp 2000", The National Gallery, Colombo |
