Moving Darkness, Kulturrum, Hammenhög, 2009
Madelene Oldeman has filled the gallery with large drawings. Trees reach for the ceiling, a randomly-shaped inkblot figure returns in drawing after drawing. She has built the drawings with the finest nib. The bark on the trees gain strength from the minimal details. The sombre bark shimmers against the empty spaces of the paper. Garden landscapes and intricately styled tables are given a dreamlike clarity by the filigree work of the pen. Against the abstract she posits the flow, which becomes foliage, trunks or the disconcerting inkblot figure. Order is set against anxiety. The drawings vacillate between firm and flowing, form and dream, which gives them a fragile, irresistible power. I’ve rarely seen so remarkable drawings, where the observation of reality barely touches hardly definable mental states.
Thomas Millroth, Sydsvenskan (daily newspaper), 12 November 2009 |
