Opening reception Thursday October 4, 5-8 pm

Galleri Riis is pleased to present our first exhibition with the Swedish artist Fredrik Söderberg (b. 1972). Söderberg is known for his complex and technically skilful paintings with precise and often symmetric compositions. The works treat vast and related subjects such as spiritualism, mysticism, esoterism and the occult. Created in moments of meditative flow, the painting-act becomes an exploration of the unknown and intangible. As in the works of Hilma af Klint, one of the pioneers of spiritual abstraction, art becomes a tool for connecting with something greater than the meagre life on earth; a dimension of spirituality, a gateway towards cosmos and a preparation for the unavoidable – death and possible afterlife. This exploration has become more relevant in a contemporary context severely marked by consumption and a fixation with the private and superficial self.

The exhibition borrows its title from the British author and occultist Kenneth Grant’s (1924-2011) collection of short stories: At the Feet of the Guru, describing Grant’s travels in India and his encounters with gurus and wise men. The exhibition will include nine new works, among them two large watercolour diptychs depicting the Swiss psychiatrist and author C.G. Jung’s house in Küsnacht, as well as a monumental allegorical oil painting on canvas. The works, all made this last year during a residency in London, are the most complex and ambitious works Söderberg has done to date.

Fredrik Söderberg lives and works in Stockholm. He studied at Konstfack University College of Arts between 1995-2000 and The Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm in 2002. His latest solo presentation was in The National Historical Museum in Stockholm in 2011. In 2010 he participated in the group show Nordic delight at the Swedish institute in Paris, and the same year, he exhibited at Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall. On the occasion of the exhibition, Söderbergs first monograph Paintings 2008-2012 will be released by Edda publishing in collaboration with Galleri Riis.