Svenska växter
by Gerd Aurell
Artist
Gerd Aurell
(Sverige, född 1965)
Alternate Title
- Swedish Plants
Date1995/2020
MediumInstruction to drawing performance
DimensionsVarierande mått - performance av väggteckning
ClassificationPerformance
Credit LinePurchase 2021 (Swedish Acquisitions 2021)
Countries
Object NumberMOM/2021/207
CollectionsRecent Acquisitions, Svenska förvärv 2021
The artwork is not on display
About the artworkGerd Aurell depicts the plants in Björn Ursing’s flora from Svenska Växter (1950), in layer upon layer in her performance work named after the book. At a distance, the image becomes an impelling black hole. If you look closely, you can make out the delicate leaves and stems of the plants. In the drawing If We Can’t Spray the Brush Will Take Over, Aurell has created splash-shaped excerpts of forest, where lichen, stones, lingonberry shrubs and roots add white elements against the blue background. The blue refers to the herbicide Hormoslyr [same as Agent Orange] used by Swedish forest companies in the 1970s to get rid of deciduous trees in the coniferous forests. Gerd Aurell’s work shows how the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus’s linear categorisation of flora and fauna in the 18th century continues to influence our attitudes to nature and the relationship between order and chaos.
Signatures, inscriptions and marks Osignerad
Signatures, inscriptions and marks Osignerad