Because of Me, I Draw the Line

Monica Höll

Maria Bajt

Nanna de Wilde

Carin Ellberg

Jenny Granlund

Susanne Vollmer

Anne Thulin

Sonja Larsson

Eight Swedish artists in a joint exhibition: Maria Bajt, Carin Ellberg, Jenny Granlund, Monica Höll, Sonja Larsson, Anne Thulin, Nanna de Wilde and Susanne Vollmer. 

The artists in the exhibition Because of Me, I Draw the Line have in common the use of line in their work. Their lines are drawn and painted, they are cut, shaped from pantyhose or made with thick layers of paint. Life is made visible in the works by figurative, organic, geometrical and non-figurative lines.

There is something very attractive in the easiness of grabbing a pen and starting drawing. You can just take a piece of paper and go for it. Drawing doesn't demand big preparations and it allows direct expression with small equipment, without limiting the size of the work: everything is possible from a note to an installation.

The curator of this exhibition, artist Mari Rantanen, has invited eight artists from Sweden to take part in this exhibition. There is a strong tradition in drawing in Swedish art. Maria Bajt, Jenny Granlund, Susanne Vollmer and Nanna de Wilde are former students of Rantanen at the Royal Swedish University College of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Carin Ellberg, Monica Höll, Sonja Larsson and Anne Thulin are artists born in the 1950s and 1960s, and established names in Swedish contemporary art. The lines drawn by artists of two generations meet fluently and rhythmically in this exhibition, sometimes moving in the same direction, sometimes taking distances.

While preparing the exhibition Mari Rantanen has also examined her own relationship to drawing. It became an important technique to her when she lived and worked in New York in the 1980s. Drawing, and the whole concept "Works on Paper", is still central in contemporary art. Drawing is also important in the work of many artists who have inspired Mari Rantanen.