Karin Mamma Andersson
"Karin Mamma Andersson" by Louise Spence, Spring 2008, p. 88
Karin Mamma Andersson’s recent exhibition at the Camden Arts Centre is a slimmed-down version of a show that originated at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Andersson (“Mamma” is a name she assumed in response to the existence of a number of Karin Anderssons at her college; she was a mother at the time, hence the nickname) shot to international prominence at the 2003 Venice Biennale, when she was included in the exhibition “Devil May Care” at the Nordic Pavilion. Her star status was confirmed when she won the Carnegie Art Award in 2006. Though Andersson draws on a hybrid modernist/ romantic language reminiscent of Peter Doig and Luc Tuymans—both artists she admires—the resulting works are unique and unusual.
The Blank Memories Always Open From the South (2002) is a vast landscape containing what looks like a ruined Indian temple, flanked by a Picasso sculpture in one corner and three birch trees in the foreground. Andersson introduces us to a world that is engulfed in a melancholic, dreamlike haze and filled with pensive imagery that both reflects her Nordic roots and serves as a nod to other artists and icons in the history of art. She freely acknowledges the art-historical influences that surface in her work, in particular Bonnard. Andersson spent much of her childhood in the countryside, and turned to art books and the library for inspiration.
Andersson strives to insinuate her viewers into her works as uneasy participants in their narratives. Gone for Good (2006) is a typically sparsely painted work, executed in the cool Nordic tones she favours—the notable exception in this seemingly innocuous scene being the plush armchairs that have mysteriously erupted into flames. Similarly, the strange juxtapositions in The Best Storyteller II (2005), which contains a Nam June Paik–style stack of two snowy-screened television sets, challenge us to consider who exactly is viewing whom.
In About a Girl (2005), the viewer is invited to witness an intimate gathering of young women. At first all seems serene, but as one looks longer, the inscrutable expressions of the young women, the mystical landscape and the image of Snow White that appears on a wall gradually unsettle this seemingly traditional scene. Viewing Andersson’s paintings, one is consistently left wondering what has happened or what will happen—potent questions thrown up by a remarkable artist.
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