Peter Frie @ Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki - Merenranta

Peter Frie: Merenranta
Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki
June 4 - August 9, 2020

Galerie Forsblom presents an exhibition by the Swedish artist PETER FRIE (b. 1947). Frie invokes a sense of the sublime by filling the gallery with the awe-inspiring, elemental forces of nature. His images of endless sea and low-hanging sky are universally identifiable. They have very powerful genius loci, yet they also possess a metaphorical universality that transcends the physical location. Peter Frie’s timeless landscapes have an experiential resonance to which everyone can relate. He transports us to places that exist in our memories – indeed, this is the only place they exist, for Frie paints only from memory, never by replicating real landscapes. 

Peter Frie’s paintings are informed by the legacy of landscape painting, particularly the romantic tradition of imbuing scenery with a powerful emotive presence. His canvases present nameless scenes that remind us of places we know or foreign lands we have visited, or they might equally represent landscapes within ourselves. Either way, our encounter with the landscape is a highly personal experience, evoking ineffable feelings and memory traces that are unnecessary to verbalize.

Much as Peter Frie’s landscapes metaphorically capture states of mind, they are devoid of all human presence. He focuses purely on painting the sea in dialogue with the sky resting upon the horizon. He captures ray of light rising from the sea, glistening in hues from cool, clear blue to shades of radiant gold. 

PETER FRIE is one of Sweden’s most renowned contemporary artists. He has exhibited widely across Europe and taken part in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States and Asia. His work is found in museums such as Stockholm’s Moderna Museet and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki. He is also represented in numerous private collections across Europe and the United States. Peter Frie won the Ars Fennica Award in 1998.

GALERIE FORSBLOM
Yrjönkatu 22 - 00120 Helsinki
galerieforsblom.com

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