RITA LUNDQVIST
20 FEBRUARY – 31 MARCH 2021
SVENSKA DAGBLADET
13 MARCH 2021
OMKONST.SE
27 FEBRUARY 2021
KONSTEN.NET
26 FEBRYARY 2021
Rita Lundqvist´s practice could be described as a continuous exploration of the conditions and possibilities inherent to painting. With great consistency, Lundqvist has maneuvered her pictorial language towards an increasingly subdued expression. Composition and the interrelation between the hues are paramount in her works. With muted, yet vibrant layers, Rita Lundqvist conjure up a palette that bring classical, Nordic landscape painting to mind. However, Lundqvist’s images are far removed from the pastoral sceneries or dramatic renderings of wild nature common to those traditions. Instead, we are confronted with autumnal, twilight settings, perhaps witnessing a story, however vaguely implied, played out amongst the paintings.
The precisely arranged compositions render an austerity to the images, contrasting the somewhat playful configuration of the, at times, seemingly floating figures, scattered across the picture plane. The diligently executed panels are tinted with a sense of melancholy occasionally bordering on gleefulness.
The many vague traits associated with the characters in Rita Lundqvist’s paintings, their, at times, androgynous features, their ambiguous age or the peculiar chores that occupy them, sharply contrast the very precise, geometrical compositions of the paintings. In Rita Lundqvist’s works the flatness of the picture plane appears infinite.
RITA LUNDQVIST (1953) was born in Hässleholm and grew up in Malmö. She now lives and works in Stockholm. She received her education from the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm. Rita Lundqvist has exhibited in numerous solo- and group shows in Sweden and internationally. Her work has been shown at, for instance, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Lars Bohman Gallery, Stockholm; Malmö Konstmuseum; Liljevalchs, Stockholm; Artipelag, Värmdö; Norrköpings Konstmuseum and at Krognoshuset, Lund, among others. Rita Lundqvist is represented at Borås Konstmuseum; Göteborgs konstmuseum; Malmö Konstmuseum; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Norrköpings Konstmuseum; Public Art Agency Sweden; the Tore A Jonasson's Collection, Stockholm, among others. Rita Lundqvist has received grants and scholarships such as the Barbro & Holger Bäckströms Award; the Edstrand Foundation Art Prize and the Tore A Jonasson Foundation Scholarship, among others.