• Julia Peirone

    Written by Art & Culture

    Julia Peirone is a photographer who is famous for her pictures of teenage girls. The way she captures them is by having them pose with their eyes half-closed and mouths slightly open while in motion. This creates images that seem to reveal the inner feelings of the young women she portrays. A journalist named Joanna Persman once described these poses as not being particularly flattering, but rather authentic depictions of the confusion that often characterizes teenage life. According to Persman, young people are a mystery not only to adults, but also to themselves.

    What are you working on right now? /Tell us about your exhibition during Stockholm Art Week?
    I have some ideas for new works but too early to say anything. I used to have a little bank of ideas and when the time is right I pick one to go on with.
    Right now there is one or two I am thinking of.I recently finished Squeaky Stardust that I will show at Stockholm Art Week.

    The installation ‘Squeaky Stardust’ (2023) features both a video work as well as a series of polaroid-like images.
    A heavily made-up model can be seen slowly turning around with music playing in the background.
    Reminiscent of a ballerina in a music box, she circles around and around. A female voice can be heard saying ‘smile’
    and the girl complies over and over again. The camera flashes capturing her grimacing, and her makeup smears when
    she tears up. The attention from the unseen photographer becomes distressing while a toy squeaks covering any vocal expression from the protagonist.

    What inspired you to become an artist, and how has your artistic journey evolved over time?
    The idea of having a fun life and being free.
    It has been an interesting and fun artistic journey (I have been lucky) but I have also worked hard.
    I am very grateful for the possibilities I had to show my work and all the attention I got. I know how hard it is. There is a lot of good artists/art outhere that should be shown more.

    What is your creative process like, and how do you approach developing new ideas and concepts for your work?
    I see, I think (not too much), I do and then I think more.
    Most of all I try to have fun while I am doing my work. I often start with a rather banal idea that makes me laugh or wonder about something.
    I trust my intuition that it will come out deeper things from those ideas. I like to see how the process leads me through the right way.
    I try to be sensitive to what happens under the process. If there are mistakes, I see them as possibilities instead of failures. I often get surprised.

    Can you tell me about a specific artwork or series of works that are particularly meaningful to you and why?
    The series More than Violet (the portraits of girls when their poses are out of control) these pictures where important both in my work (pointed out a more concentrated direction) and in my career. The pictures also embrace a lot of things that represent who I am as an artist.

    What do you think of Stockholm as an art city?
    It's good, of course as an artist I would like it to be more experimental. Unfortunately the market is deciding too much what is shown in galleries for example. Stockholm is a good art city concerning that is not the biggest city in the world. But I would like to be more surprised and and see more strange and `impossible` art.

    Do you have a favorite Swedish Artist?
    Yes, Barbro Ötshlin.

    Do you have a favorite bar or restaurant in Stockholm?
    Yes, Cafe on hornsgatan/mariatorget.
    The best coffee in town and nicest people working there. Also a very nice bar.

  • The Decadent Warrior - Fredrik Robertsson x Edblad

    Written by Fashion Tales

    Fredrik Robertsson, the extravagant haute couture collector, teams up with Edblad's design studio to produce a limited and unique series of jewelry.

    The collaboration between Edbladand Fredrik is as uniqe as the collection a relationship that gose back a long way thanks to their common heart issue and work for the Rainbow Foundation, where Fredrik sits on the board and to which Edblad has annually donated money, arranged events with and released collections for the benefit of, via its Helping Hand initiative.

    The collection consists of a well-crafted headdress out of the ordinary and two sets with parts from this, rings and necklaces. A collaboration with a huge wow factor, just like Fredrik himself.

    Odalisque Magazine had a chat with the multitalented Mr Robertson to get a insight in the collaboration.

    Tell us about yourself and how your devotion for fashion began.

    Well, I am a haute couture collector and buyer who used to be in PR and now work with my fiancé as a creative director for haircare company Björn Axén and sit on the board of the non-profit organization Regnbågsfonden. I think my love of fashion really began when I grew up in Singapore, and we wore school uniform to school. One day a week we had free dress day – and that is when I loved to express myself. I would walk to the luxury department stores and check out Moschino and the other brands, and dream to one day be able to buy it all, haha.

    You're quite the trailblazer for personal expression through unique designs and couture pieces. How would you describe your aesthetic/style?

    I try not to describe my style at it changes daily. I love fashion and I love the power of fashion. How it can make you feel, make others see you, how it can open doors, and close them, haha. I dress for the occasion, I dress the way I feel. I love the process of creating a look.
    But I can just as easily wear black simple joggers from Rick Owen to a Jean Paul Gaultier haute couture dress with 3-meter train. Both feel just as natural to me.

    Tell us about the Fredrik Robertsson x Edblad-collection.

    I have always wanted to create jewelry, and have dabbled in it before. But to create something special with Edblad was an honor because it reaches a lot of people which I love.
    The revolution in Iran had just started, and working with Regnbågsfonden makes me inspired by the brave people who take to the streets and fight for our basic human rights. So, this collection is dedicated to them. A fierce headpiece for protection and self-expression. And chains I see as armour.

    What sparked the idea to life? Key inspirations?

    I love the mystique of covering my face with a head piece, mask or something fabulous to create extra drama. That was my first initial idea, and then it all came together with the inspiration from my rainbow warriors.

    What lies next on the horizon for Fredrik Robertsson?

    Oh, I have a huge exhibition this fall with all of my haute couture, photos taken by Ea Czyz who has been with me in Paris for 10 years. The exhibition is curated by Susanna Strömquist and designed by Robin Grann. Soon you will get more information….

  • A Kassen

    Written by Art & Culture

    A Kassen the Copenhagen-based collective comprised of Christian Bretton Meyer, Morten Steen Hebsgaard, Soren Petersen, and Tommy Petersen plays with traditional notions of authorship, appropriation, and appraisal. Described by the artists as “performative installation and sculpture,” their work deconstructs and reconstitutes everyday objects, artworks by other artists, and historical exhibitions to question canonized styles and modes of display related to art history and institutional culture.

    What are you working on right now? /Tell us about your exhibition during Stockholm Art Week?
    In Stockholm we are working on an exhibition at CFHILL that will consist of mainly sculptural works. We will show works from the series we call View from Below, Bronze Pour and Bronze Paintings. Those are works that deals with chance in a material that is normally used in a highly controlled manner. Working as a group we are less interested in the hands-on shaping of objects but more interested in developing concepts where the shapes and aesthetics are results of not the eye but a thought process. In Bronze Pour and Bronze Paintings we are experimenting with the qualities of bronze as a raw material.

    What inspired you to become an artist?
    There will be four individual and different answers to that question. But for all of us we saw the possibilities in art making as a way of relating to the world in an abstract and poetic way.

    How has your artistic journey evolved over time?
    Over the time we have worked more and more on public commissions and site-specific projects in larger scale. These types of projects have a totally different timeline and can spand over many years. When we started working together the energy and effort four guys could put in doing smaller exhibitions was rather explosive - it was possible to put up a show in a formiddag. Still our artistic intentions and interests are pretty much still the same.

    What is your creative process like, and how do you approach developing new ideas and concepts for your work?
    Our approach depends very much on for what and where the artwork is supposed to be shown. But in general we use the stories and the uniqueness of that exact place or site. As a group we work very site-specific and it has become the natural way of kickstarting the dialogue and the thought process to place ourselves together in the space. Concepts and ideas come rather intuitively from the bank of almost 20 years of dialogue and from that dialogue subjects and a common view on the world arises.

    What do you think of Stockholm as an art city?
    We didn’t spend very much time in Stockholm so far so our impressions of the city is based on a very narrow knowledge. But a visit to Moderna Museet is always a safe bet. Great and courages international quality exhibitions with younger artists, for instance Lea Porsager and Adrián Villar Rojas.

    Do you have a favorite Swedish Artist?
    It might not be our all time favorite artist but a work that we all have been visiting and is fascinated by is Lars Vilks projects Nimis and Arx at Kullaberg. First of all the effort the visitor have to go through to experience the work sets the scene. You have to travel and walk for some time before meeting the artwork that is so much more than an artwork. It is architecture, a performance, a protest but most of all it is for everybody and breaks down the barrier that can be around art. Visiting the site that is also known as the micronation Ladonia is so surprising and beautiful and impressive.

    Do you have a favorite bar or restaurant in Stockholm?
    This is our first solo exhibition in the city and we haven’t spend too much time in Stockholm yet so I guess you could tell us where to go… but a place that would be interesting to visit is the artist Carsten Höllers restaurant Brutalisten. The artworks he does has a certain flavour to it, maybe what you get at the restaurant taste a bit like that too.

Pages