I was transfixed by the complex, layered, collage-like work by contemporary Swedish artist Kent Lindfors when I came upon it in a light-filled gallery at the Gothenburg Museum of Art in Sweden. The collection on display was a retrospective of the artist's work from the 1970s until 2016. Kent Lindfors was born and works in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden.
According to the gallery, "his paintings resemble parts of an ongoing life-project, a never-ending journey in which the outflow of the river Göta Älv in the western sea blends together with Santiago de Compostela, and the sheds in Gothenburg harbour cross over into Catholic mysticism."
From afar, each works looks like it contains a singular image — from something as mundane as a rail car to a more complex religious motif — but the image is actually made up of words, smaller images, and layer upon layer of paint and collage. He spends years on each piece, reworking it, adding to it. His works are never really complete, but always a work-in-progress.
The result is stunning. I could have stood in front of each piece for hours and still have not absorbed every detail, every nuance.
Image Above: La Fuente, 2001-2013; The Well, 2000-2016; La Fuente II 2000-2016
Image Below: A massive wall collage showing a breakdown of the artist's process
The paintings were accompanied by snippets of the artist's writing. The excerpt above was my favourite. It's amazing how just a few lines of poetry can set a mode or evoke a vibrant image in your mind.
While no photograph can show the all of the intense detail that is in these works, you can see some elements in the image above titled The Wagon V, 1978-1979.
