K G Nilson (the artist) and Cia Rimmö (the head of Västerås Museum of Art) are introducing the exhibition on the private viewing Nov. 15, 2002.
K G Nilson exhibits at Vasteras Konstmuseum for the first time. He shows paintings, prints and a large board game placed on the floor. The game is in the shape of a map of the world and the markers take different positions. They symbolise labour, gold, primary produce and nuclear weapons. In an interview in DN in 1999 the artist says: "The board game is a caricature of the world, only not too different from reality."
The theme of the exhibition is War and Peace, a subject that K G Nilson has been working with since the end of the 1960´s.One of his first "map-paintings"; Le Grand Voyage, 1968, depicts a seemingly neutral distance through Europe. However, the black and white dashed line on the map shows the train journey from Dijon to the concentration camp Buchenwald. Pontus Kyander writes in a catalogue text from 1999, about the map as a subject in KG Nilson´s art: "The map is not a true representation of the landscape; it is its signs and theory." Humans were absent from KG Nilson´s paintings already in the 1960s, and are also absent in his later work. But everything else from a human surrounding is there: houses, roads, signs, and chaotic traffic systems.
A minor catalogue including texts and a few dozen colour images has been produced for the exhibition. The Museum Shop also stocks other books on K G Nilson. All work in the exhibition was made during a five-year period of time, 1997-2002.
The text above is written by Eva Borgegårds for the exhibition "War and Peace. The text is translated into English by Sarah Rimmö-Toure.
Many of the paintings at the exhibitions are for sale. Contact the Museum for more information about the paintings at Västerås Museum of Art.
E-mail: konstmuseet@vasteras.se
Please note that most of the paintings can be viewed in enlarged versions by clicking on the pictures.
In K G Nilson´s biography there is more to read about his artistic ability.
K G Nilson´s Biography.
