The Birth of Xenia, Variation 3, 7, 30

From a series of, in total, thirty paintings.

The three canvases, The Birth of Xenia (variation 3, 7 & 30), belong to a group of altogether thirty paintings, all measuring 125 x 88 cm each and depicting the same scene: the artist breastfeeding her newborn baby (Snöfrid once, 21 April 2015, told SVT, Sweden’s national public broadcasting company: “I work with what I experience in my own life, I blend life and art, and they are very closely linked. If I experience childbirth, then I paint it. My art lies very close to my own life experiences”). In the 2010s Ylva Snöfrid brought all thirty canvases together when she created, what she refers to as, a hyper work: The Birth of Xenia and Diverse Variations of Other Spaces, shown at Röda Sten konsthall, Gothenburg, Sweden (2014). According to the artist’s web page (ylvasnofrid.com):

“The Birth of Xenia 1-30, and Diverse Variations of Other Spaces”, is a larger hyper work from 2014-15. It consists of two parts, 1.) “Variations of Other Spaces”, a large canvas, 10 x 9 m, with adherent applications, such as various brush, oil color, etc, and 2.) “The Birth of Xenia 1-30”, 30 individual paintings, variations of one motif. The paintings are placed on 30 easels, grey painted and sooted.

The following year saw the, hugely popular, exhibition She in Four Acts (Snöfrid’s most extensive solo exhibition up to date) at Bonniers Konsthall in Stockholm (2015). The entire exhibition was set up as a gigantic hyper work, She in Four Acts, consisting of (obviously) four acts, and comprising a series of theatrical hyper works of various sizes and complexity, or as Bonniers Konsthall described it:

In the exhibition She in Four Acts, Ogland utilizes both the platform and history of theatre, as well as the relationship between film and theatre. The four acts form a story that gradually unfolds. Each act is introduced by a pink painting of a curtain with a hole cut out of the canvas, serving as a passage between various states. The acts continue with sceneries in shifting colour scales through which Ogland leads the viewer between “the shadow world,” “death,” “birth,” and “the real world.”

This time (once again according to Snöfrid’s web page) The Birth of Xenia-canvases were part of: “Act Three, Birth, the third act of She in Four Acts, which consists of 2 parts, 1.) the curtain paining She Act Three, a Reflection of the Combined Memory of the Births of Sibylla and Xenia, and Grotto, Birth, and 2.) the larger hyper work The Birth of Xenia.”

Returning to, often remarkably, personal motifs and themes whilst creating large-scale installations, of a somewhat ritualistic character, is typical of Snövit. As pointed out by an entry in Children of the Children of the Revolution(exhibition catalogue, Färgfabriken, Stockholm, 2018):

Ylva Snöfrid often processes primordial topics such as memory, death, sex, different forms and levels of consciousness, while also exploring the boundaries between art and life. […] She lives with, and constantly returns to, a detailed world of motifs and myths, characterized by a combination of fantasies and personal life experience. Her painting often combine complex time-based installations and ceremonial performances.

The Birth of Xenia-canvases bears clear testimony to Snöfrid’s working methods where the extensive suite of paintings (based on Snöfrid’s own life experiences) previously was recycled and reused as an important component in new projects and installations. Besides these hyper works, and left to themselves, however these canvases also prove equally impressive, either as individual works of art or as a triptych. In connection with the latest hyper work containing the canvases (She in Four Acts, 22 April – 26 july 2015), Bonniers Konsthall wrote:

Ylva Ogland is one of the brightest artistic stars of her generation. From a very early age she developed a unique artistic language, delving into the entire register offered by painting. To Ogland, painting is both a language in and of itself, as well as a state in which she creates quickly and confidently, without sketching or relying on assistance from devices such as projections. She surrounds herself with and regularly returns to her motifs, which consist of personal mythologies rooted in her individual life experiences. Her paintings often include installation elements and ritualistic performances, as she processes such subjects as memory, death and different states and levels of consciousness, while also addressing the line between art and reality.

Exhibitions

Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg, Sweden, Ylva Ogland. Diverse Variations of Other Spaces, 6

September – 2 November 2014, exhibited as part of the larger, so called, hyper work The Birth of Xenia and Diverse Variations of Other Spaces.

Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Ylva Ogland. She in Four Acts, 22 April – 26 July 2015, exhibited as part of the larger, so called, hyper work The Birth of Xenia and Diverse Variations of Other Spaces (itself part of the installation Act Three, Birth).

Literature

(Eds.) Sara Arrhenius & Sofia Curman, Ylva Ogland. She, an Introduction, exhibition catalogue, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, 2015, illustrated in colour p. 58 (variation 3), as well as full page in colour, p. 61 and 63 (variation 7 and 30 respectively). Compare also installation view Diverse Variations of Other Spaces (2013 – 2014, 30 paintings, 30 easels, mirror, brushes, paint tubes, paper towels, rubber gloves, palette, candle, matches, 872 x 1000 cm) from solo exhibition at Röda Sten, Gothenburg, 2014, illustrated full spread in colour, pp. 54 – 55.

Copyright Firestorm Foundation