Opening reception: Saturday, August 31, 12-4 pm (12-16).
Welcome!

Galleri Thomassen is proud to present two concurrent solo exhibitions, Erik Kihlbaum´s Lock the door, Break the Windows and Linnea Rygaard´s Backbone.

Erik Kihlbaum´s new series of drawings are based on photographs from the 1930s of the Umatilla National Forest in Oregon, USA. Surrounded by black ink, everyday actions become vague and threatening. By drawing abstract rooms with a clear spatiality he creates a staged place where thoughts can come and go without the outer world pushing in. A place for visual storytelling of personal dreams and inner states, while tapping into today’s climate of impending natural disaster, connecting fragments of the past with the present.

Backbone, Linnea Rygaard’s first solo exhibition at the gallery consists of a new series of large scale paintings. Characteristic of Rygaard´s work is the use of central perspective, a method deeply rooted in the tradition of painting, and key to Rygaard´s process. Rygaard juxtaposes the structure of the paintings with symbols placed flat on the surface. As symbols refer to something other than themselves, this opens up meaning to form. The transformation of the two-dimensional surface into three-dimensional illusionistic space reminds us that the works are new facts, something that did not exist in the world until they were made, pushing for and demanding our attention.

Erik Kihlbaum (b. 1976 in Örebro, Sweden), lives and works in Stockholm. He received his MFA from Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå (2001-2006). Kihlbaum’s work has been shown at Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg, Galleri 0-0 LA, Los Angeles, USA, Galleri Steinsland Berliner, Stockholm, Örebro Konsthall, Rättviks Konsthall, et.al. His work is represented in both private and public collections, including Brittish Museum, London, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, and The National Public Art Council. He is represented by Galleri Thomassen.

Linnea Rygaard (b. 1990) holds an MFA from the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm (2016) and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, USA, in 2015. Rygaard was awarded the Royal Institute of Art’s residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2016. Rygaard’s work has been shown at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, HILDE Gallery, Los Angeles, CHART Art Fair, Copenhagen, Cecilia Hillström Gallery, Liljevalchs, Vargåkra Gård Konsthall and in group shows at Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg, Anna Bohman Gallery and Galleri Olsson, Stockholm. Public commissions include a mural painting for Stockholm City Council/Stockholm Konst and site-specific paintings for Uppsala Municipality and Gävle Municipality. Rygaard is represented in the collections of Uppsala Konstmuseum and Knivsta Municipality. She is represented by Cecilia Hillström Gallery, Stockholm.