We have previously hosted exhibitions featuring the work of both Nils A. Ekwall and Rosemarie Holmström at our gallery, but never together. This time, they have collaborated on a series of paintings for a joint exhibition. Below is a short interview about their collaborative project.
Your paintings seem to contain a great deal of symbolism, perhaps even esoteric elements. Is this intentional, or is it something that emerges naturally as you work?
Perhaps it is not so much about symbolism as about shared references of various kinds, both cultural and historical. In our most recent work, While It Clouds Over, those who wish to do so can find allusions to John Lennon, the Marx Brothers, Hieronymus Bosch, Star Trek, Shostakovich, and Saint Bridget of Sweden.
These references emerge on their own as we work.
What we consciously choose is the theme, a fundamental idea about a particular state we want to portray. It might involve unlikely encounters, change, surprise, fear, or repression.
How did you come to start working together as artists? How did you meet?
We first met in the 1970s, but it was not until ten years ago that we exhibited together. When we put on the exhibition, we quickly realised that our imaginative worlds overlapped, and we were drawn to exploring the collaboration further.
We began to wonder how far one could take a collaboration. Could we dissolve the boundaries completely, to the point where even we would no longer know who had done what?
We started cautiously, with one of us adding to a background painted by the other. But now, after eight years of painting together, NIRO has become an artist in its own right, separate from our individual painting practices.
How have you each pursued your artistic careers individually, and how did you first get started on this path?
We have both been at it for as long as we can remember.
Nils received encouragement and support from his family, studied at art college in Malmö in the 1970s, and has exhibited regularly ever since.
Rosemarie had never considered attending art school. She worked as a journalist and only began to pursue art seriously later in life. She has taken around twenty courses, both short and long, at folk high schools, through adult education associations, and with private tutors. She has been exhibiting since the early 1990s.
What are your backgrounds? Were your parents artists as well?
Nils comes from an artistic family and grew up in Skåne and on Ekerö.
Rosemarie grew up at a railway station on Öland. Her father was a railway station master, and her mother was a housewife.
Do you have any conscious artistic influences, or does what you create come entirely from within yourselves?
We have no conscious influences when we paint, but we draw inspiration from many artists, including Caravaggio, Bosch, Beskow, and Magritte.
Have you worked in other media to express your creative ideas, such as sculpture, music, writing, or anything else that comes to mind?
Nils paints, mainly in oils, but enjoys experimenting with different techniques.
Rosemarie creates sculptures in concrete, among other things.
Do you think you will continue making more art together in this way?
Without a doubt, we will continue.
How did you approach creating this exhibition? Did you paint on the same canvas at the same time, or did you take turns? And did you work in the same studio?
We painted together on the same canvas, at the same time, working across and in all directions.
What do you have coming up next?
Next on our agenda is an exhibition in Gothenburg. We are currently working on a series of twelve paintings based on a single theme.
