Jesper Wladersten – Ett svart streck. The first major exhibition with the swedish illustrator.

Separate exhibition
Main hall, Färgfabriken

On March 22, Färgfabriken opens Ett svart streck, an exhibition of Jesper Waldersten’s work. Based on more than 60 new drawings, all executed in black ink on 70 by 100 (cm) paper, it will be the main exhibition at Färgfabriken this spring.

The broader Swedish public is familiar with Jesper Waldersten primarily through his drawings and illustrations in Dagens Nyheter, the country’s main daily newspaper. Between 1999 and 2002, he worked for DN På Stan, the paper’s weekly events and entertainment supplement (some of his work there has been collected in a book, “Tack för senast din jävel!”); since then he has been drawing for the paper’s weekend edition. He recently received, for the second year running, the New York-based Society for News Design Awards’ gold medal as best illustrator. Some weeks ago, his first children’s book, “Godnattfnatt” (of which he is both writer and illustrator), was published. Among much else, he has done CD covers, illustrations for Månadsjournalen, a monthly magazine, and drawings for Berwaldhallen, a concert venue.

Ett svart streck is Jesper Waldersten’s first major exhibition. All of the drawings are new, and done specifically for this occasion. Färgfabriken will publish a 136-page book of the exhibition, with 60 drawings by Waldersten and a text by Färgfabriken’s curator, Jan Åman, of which the following is an excerpt:

“Jesper has set off again on his wanderings, but with slightly different things in mind this time. He wanders alone and at feasts. He wanders among isolated individuals, among couples and groups of figures. As he is wont to. He sees closeness here, desperate isolation there. The humanly inhuman. Melancholy, sex, drunkenness, brief joy, failure and dreams of something else. Classic artistic themes. And that, I suppose, is what Jesper Waldersten is about. He zaps his way through our times. He draws faster than a computer remembers. And he does it in pursuit of the classic domains of art.”