Linnea Rygaard – Zodiac

Cecilia Hillström Gallery is pleased to present Linnea Rygaard’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery, Zodiac, featuring a series of new paintings. Known for her unmistakably painterly style and monumental expression, Rygaard gathers inspiration from architecture but also from small details like ornaments. Her work could be inspired by an architectural drawing of a Baroque garden as well as a digital element from a contemporary video game. 

In Zodiac, Rygaard explores a smaller format in her painting. Having developed a more detailed expression in the past years, Rygaard takes this one step further in her new works without losing the sense of vast grandeur. The play of micro and macro perspectives has always been an important part of her work, challenging the viewer’s perception. The feeling of not knowing if you are looking at something minuscule or something too large to grasp creates a sense of uncertainty and wonder.

The titles of the paintings in the new show are derived from satellites orbiting around Earth and other planets. A sombre palette with hues of earthy tones holds the works together. At the same time, lighter and darker paintings are juxtaposed against each other in the space. At a closer look, the sheerness of thin layers of paint plays with the raw canvas. Like in the Zodiac, the formation of paintings in the show comes together as a futuristic star constellation, circulating and hovering over our world and lives.

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 (2015). Furthermore, Rygaard was awarded the Royal Institute of Art's residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2016. Her work has been shown at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, HILDE Gallery, Los Angeles, CHART Art Fair, Copenhagen, Liljevalchs konsthall. Public commissions include a sculptural installation at Magnus Ladulås Square in Jönköping, a mural painting for Stockholm City Council/Stockholm Konst in Rågsved as well as site-specific paintings for Uppsala Municipality and Gävle Municipality. Rygaard is represented in the collections of Uppsala Art Museum, Västerås Art Museum, Public Art Agency Sweden, Stockholm Konst, Region Uppsala, Region Dalarna, Region Gävleborg, Uppsala Municipality, Knivsta Municipality and Jönköping Municipality. In addition, she is represented in several corporate and private collections.