Magnus Bärtås De besvikna och förorättade Nutida

MAGNUS BÄRTÅS (född 1963): ur serien "De besvikna och förorättade", stearin på tidningspapper och tråd, 6 delar, varierade storlekar höjd 5-13 cm

Proveniens: Inköpt direkt från konstnären
Utställd: Jämför, 2006 Modernautställningen, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
2004 Read Me, The Art Museum of Gotland, Visby
2003 True stories, Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje
Make it real, The Soap Factory, Minneapolis
2001 Buildings and stories, Passagen, The Art museum of Linköping
Magnus Bärtås, The Art Museum of Jönköping
2000 Magnus Bärtås, works 1992-2000 Gävle Konstcentrum, Gävle (solo exhibition)
1999 Small Images of Truth, The Life Foundation, Stockholm
1998 Little Big Stories, The National Library, Skopje
1997 Private Campaigne, The Pineapple Gallery, Malmö (solo exhibition)
The Conspiracy, The Soap Factory, Athens, FOKA Gallery, Thessaloniki, Uppsala Konstmuseum, BildMuseet, Umeå, (curator and contributor, catalogue available).
1996 Galleri Titanik, Åbo (Finland), solo exhibition
Sen Fronteiras, VII Fotobienal, Casa des Artes, Vigo (Spain), goup show, catalogue available
1994 Adlercreutz & Björkholmen Gallery, Stockholm (solo exhibition)

The faces of Disappointed and Offended People which I collect from daily newspapers create a sort of ´home-made´ taxonomic system. The work collects and documents complains in Sweden since 1994.
Sweden has the reputation of being one of the most secure and healthy countries on earth. The very naive question functions as a starting point: What would then be the prevailing discontent in this paradise?
In the naming of the distresses one enter an oscillating field between empathy and malicious pleasure.
The images are reproduced using a very simple technique often used by children. The melting wax of a candle is dripped on the photos in the newspapers. After drying, the hardened wax is carefully removed with an imprint of the face on it. In the physical spaces of museums and galleries he objects are installed as a wailing wall, where the gaze of accusation is meeting the viewer. Printed lists nearby present the different reasons behind the disappointed and offended faces. Every case is presented in one sentence, like a condensed short story.
According to the text on the wall many of them consider themselves to be subjected to conspiracies, and all seek, in different ways, redress. The unjustness, the mishaps, accidents and distresses may seem to emanate from chance and unfortunate circumstances - the absence of the political. In this sense the collection may document a change in society. (Magnus Bärtås)