Ann Böttcher

Artist Ann Böttcher is interested in how nature is colored by different aesthetic and ideological projections. At the center of her artistic exploration stands the fir tree. Her work is often expressed in meticulously executed drawings but also in archival collages and traditional textile techniques.

The exhibition starts with the work The Swedish series (a selection). This wall installation can be described as a subjective examination of how the spruce came to be used as a Swedish symbol, mainly in art and literature, from the 17th century to the present day. Also shown here Ryamata, Sweden (Letter card, NSB: God Helg. 1930s) dealing with our country's National Socialist heritage.

A new series of drawings is a tribute to the artist Sten Dunér and his painting The Lonely Spruce. Dunér's artistry is deeply connected with the family farm Drömmens located in the spruce forest of Småland not far from Värnamo. In particular, Böttcher takes an interest in Dunér's relationship with the interior and exterior landscape, mainly through the Romantic tradition and artists such as Caspar David Friedrich.

For the exhibition, Böttcher has made an inventory of the spruce as a motif in the Smålands Konstarkivs collection. Her selection, displayed in the Study Archive, includes works by Vera Nilsson, Gusty Olsson, Erling Johansson and Erik Dietman, among others.

Ann Böttcher was born in 1973 in Bruzaholm, Småland. She is currently active in Malmö and Falster in Denmark. She was educated at Konstfack in Stockholm and Malmö Art Academy.

The exhibition is created in collaboration between Vandalorum and the Småland Art Archive.

Curators: Elna Svenle & Eva Thomasdotter

^{Photo: Johann Bergenholtz}