Object
Barockfesten
Tapestry
320,00 x 300,00 cm
, 2000
RKM 13-2012
Gift from Barbro Wingstrand
On display in The Falk Simon Collection
Description
Barockfesten (Baroque Festivity) is a detailed, colourful tapestry that depicts a bird’s-eye view of a wedding party around a table. In her sketch for the work, Annika Ekdahl used a collage of photographs from her eldest son’s wedding in New York in 1999. Around the table are Ekdahl and her husband, their two other sons, the bride’s brothers and the artist’s parents-in-law, her parents and her grandparents.
Depicting important events is a strong tradition in pictorial weaving. Barockfesten has an element of documentary, which is reinforced by the portraits clearly being based on photographs, but the image is both documentary and a fantasy. The artist’s grandparents, who are shown in brown tones, are long since dead. Angels sit at the foot of the table. On the table, the various parts of the meal merge into each other – and some dishes, glasses and cutlery are floating away from the table towards the roses in the border. The deliberately flat, paper doll type figures seem to be in a dreamy place, where objects and images flow into each other.
Annika Ekdahl has said that the urge behind Barockfesten and the subsequent weavings came when she asked herself what, as artist, she would most like to produce. The answer was to weave grand pictures full of details and contrasts, pictures where nothing is held back. Barockfesten represents both the dramatic and decorative aspects of textile art. The concentrated work to fill the enormous area has an almost manic touch, adding to the intensity of feeling and the personal expression.
Exhibition History
Annika Ekdahl kulturstipendiat Sten A Olssons Stiftelse 2018, Göteborg, Göteborgs konstmuseum, 08/12/2018 - 10/02/2019
Annika Ekdahl, Stockholm, Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, 14/10/2017 - 11/02/2018
Nytt i samlingen, Göteborg, Röhsska museet, 17/09/2013 - 06/10/2013