3 December 2022–12 February 2023
Vibrant collages that open doors to memories and cities meet portable glaciers in dark concentrated rooms. The Stena Foundation and the Gothenburg Museum of Art finishes the year with an exhibition that pays attention to two distinctive artistry with strong international anchoring.
In December, an exhibition with Eric Magassa and Jelizaveta Suska, winners of the Stena Foundation Culture Scholarship for 2022 in art, will open at the Gothenburg Museum of Art.
Jelizaveta Suska
Jelizaveta Suska (b 1989 in Latvia) trained in Japan, Germany and the HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design. She creates jewellery, a kind of portable sculptures that are reminiscent of geological finds, fragments of glaciers or miniature landscapes. The method is based on an experimental exploration of materials, among others titan, gold and crushed marble. Jelizaveta Suska lives and works in Gothenburg. She regularly exhibits in Sweden and other countries, and is represented at Nationalmuseum and in international collections.
Motivation:
Jelizaveta Suska uses stone, polymers, gold, and amber to create intriguing jewellery, pieces that evoke meteorites or archaeological artefacts, where rough, matte surfaces envelop memories and secrets.
Modest in format, her jewellery surprises in how it evokes drama and associations. A quirky sense of tension arises in these highly concentrated pieces. Like a modern-day alchemist, the artist coaxes something precious and fantastic out of unexpected material combinations.
For art that allows us, through poetic shifts in perspective, to experience the greatness of small things, Jelizaveta Suska is awarded the 2022 Culture Scholarship from the Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture.
Eric Magassa
Eric Magassa (b 1972) is a Gothenburg-based multidisciplinary artist, trained in London and New York. He chiefly works with collages, photography, installations and music, investigating themes such as outsider experience, identity and historiography. Magassa is represented at the Gothenburg Museum of Art and Moderna Museet. He exhibits in Sweden and internationally on a regular basis.
Motivation:
Eric Magassa explores gaps, places, and voices in his art. A reoccurring theme is the place for humans in the modern world, how they behave and own their history. Loss of identity, language, and culture pair up in Magassa’s creations, with the experience of urban living and exile to become a reference grid for understanding how the world works.
Vibrant collages, murals, photos, and sculptures usher you into Eric Magassa’s universe, one that blends playful abstraction with reflections on spatial conditions and the precise mapping of materials, geography, and memories.
For art that shows – with melancholy and euphoria – the path of images and their musical dimensions, Eric Magassa is awarded the 2022 Culture Scholarship from the Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture.
The Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research
The Stena Foundation is an important institution in the cultural life of Western Sweden, providing a unique opportunity for artists to produce new works and increase their visibility. This year, six cultural practitioners each receive 300 000 SEK to stimulate further development. Since 1996, the Foundation has awarded 161 scholars hips for the continued training of talented individuals in fields such as art, music, theatre, dance, literature and scenography. Furthermore, the Foundation has awarded grants to many research and culture projects.
Catalogue
A comprehensive catalogue accompanies the exhibition, including longer personal interviews and a plethora of visual material for each recipient of the culture scholarships. Short introductory films featuring all the scholars are shown in the exhibition and provide further in-depth knowledge about them.
All recipients of the 2022 Stena Foundation Culture Scholarships:
Dancer and choreographer Zerjon Abebe
Singer Kerstin Avemo
Actor Gizem Kling Erdogan
Translator Helena Hansson
Artist Eric Magassa
Artist Jelizaveta Suska
Top Image: Eric Magassa, The Lost Series, Sao Paulo, 2019.
Image previous page: Jelizaveta Suska, Jewelry in mixed materials, 2022. Photo: Peter Claesson.