#461 Language Matter
US$ 1,500
Overview
2023
Construction Filler, Filler on board, oak panel
Unique Work
Dimensions: 84cm (H) x 64cm (W) x 5cm (D) / 33.1" (H) x 25.2" (W) x 2" (D)
Note: Actual colours may vary due to photography & computer settings
Shipping
This item ships from Norway
Please note that this item is framed and requires crating for shipment
Shipping cost will be calculated upon checkout
About the art
Artist statement
"There is no such thing as society" is a quote from Margaret Thatcher. The neoliberal ideology presents itself as the result of natural laws, not as a strategy created by will. The causal is a register that existed before life and language possessed it. But language is interesting because it can transcend the natural and find new and unexpected solutions. Language can be creative, whereas the causal register can only use the already given.
Still, language must be manifested in physical reality to communicate. A thought is as fleeting and shapeless as a dream before it is uttered. In encountering matter, the strict field of consistency and consequentiality (which appear both ungraspable and chaotic with its unlimited number of parameters), language usually expresses what has already been said to reinforce what already exists. But sometimes, compelled by what can only be described as an inner will, language can shape matter into something new and previously unseen. It is in this free will that the core of the subject is found. Something within the self that transcends nature's dictates of survival, reproduction and need satisfaction. This indeterminate core can be described as a pure linguistic unit. A word before it's said.
What exists between humans is just as fleeting and difficult to define. Relationships. Community. Society. Its descriptions in the form of laws, promises, injunctions and norms are always, at the same time, less and more than what really binds us together. A collective will - the sum of what we are and do together. It is also a pure linguistic figure in a register beyond the material. A dream we dream together.
We can create a society that has never been seen before. Another world is possible. But a solid collective will is required.
Artist profile
Johan Söderström
Born: 1969
Hometown: Stockholm
Based in: Oslo
I am interested in process-based painting and the profound human solitude. While exploring one thing, I sometimes try to formulate something about the other.
My work is made from construction filler in oak frames. I have developed a unique technique, where I insert 6 mm thick layers of grey and white …
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