Julia Steinbach: in this scenery

Opening: Tue, Oct 5, 18:00
 

The writer Bodil Malmsten once said that she hates music because it is the one form of artistic expression that doesn’t take the detour through the intellect, but rather manipulatively, goes straight to the heart. The same could be said about decoration.

The vases, the tablecloths, the figurines, the candleholders, the flowerpots, the knickknacks, the lamps, the blankets, the carpets, the pillows, the wallpapers. To decorate is to allow the subconsciousness of taste to surface. It is to lose oneself in the facilitation of visual and spatial pleasure and comfort. It is to acknowledge all the objects and images that we, on a purely practical level do not need, but depend on spiritually.

If we look at an artwork as an externalised thought process, decoration could be seen as an externalised emotional or intuitive process. It’s all desire, pleasure and impulse. As I write this I realise the same could be said for art. Maybe the real difference is that with decoration we don’t feel the need to ask any clever, well-formulated questions, casually referring to the theorist du jour. We don’t expect there to be a text providing us with a context and a point of entry. We don’t feel the need to understand, we just enjoy it to the deepest and fullest meaning of the word.

Text: Albin Bergström