Magnus Bärtås

In De besvikna och förorättade (The Disappointed and Wronged), we encounter a large number of compressed texts and stearin portraits. Each text represents a particular case that has been depicted in the press, in which an individual feels wronged. The casual, short-lived, format of the daily newspaper is replaced by a presentation in which the printing ink of the images has been transferred to stearin. The impression made is one that is fragile but also sanctified and eternal. The work incarnates the vulnerability of the individual and succeeds in laying bare the conviction of being a victim of the evil, ignorance and misinterpretation of the more powerful opponent.

Magnus Bärtås

Born 1962 in Jönköping.
Lives and works in Stockholm.

Selected solo exhibitions

2003
True stories, Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje

2001
Buildings and stories, Passagen, Linköping Konstmuseum, Jönköpings läns museum

2000
Magnus Bärtås, Works

1992–2000
Gävle Konstcentrum, Gävle

Selected group exhibitions

2004
Delayed on Time, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb [HR]

2003
Reshape, IASPIS, 50th Venice Biennale, Venedig/Venice [IT]

1998
Little Big Stories, The National Library, Skopje [MK]/ Riksarkivet, Stockholm

Selected bibliography

Peio Aguirre, “Who is Who?”, Agence Topo, Montreal, 2005 (www.agencetopo.qc.ca/whois/ peio_eng.html).

Suzana Milevska, “Stories About the Selves”, Magnus Bärtås 1990–, Gävle Konstcentrum, Gävle, 2000.

Annika Hansson Wretman, “The Art of Reinventing an Image”, Young and Serious – The Recycled Image, Studio of Young Artist Association, Budapest, 1999.