Mark Frygell - Fiction of the Village in Frames: Stockholm

We are delighted to present Fiction of the Village in Frames, Mark Frygell’s third solo exhibition at Andréhn-Schiptjenko. The opening will take place on Thursday April 11, from 17:00 to 20:00.

 

Mark Frygell's enigmatic paintings feature visual fantasy environments with sculpted, painted and patterned surfaces in oil. Drawing inspiration from art history, game art, folklore and mythology, the artist transcends specific cultural boundaries but often emphasizes caricature, the grotesque and the comic. A recurring theme in his paintings is the relationship between interior and exterior spaces, along with the dynamic between fiction and reality, exploring how these elements interact and coalesce.

 

Fiction of the Village in Frames showcases the artist’s particular approach in blending traditional painting techniques with computer software, especially 3D engines. At the heart of the exhibition are fourteen paintings, created in chronological order, which combine 3D models and AI-generated imagery reinterpreted through painting. The exhibition concept originated with Frygell constructing a scale model of the Andréhn-Schiptjenko gallery space, using the 3D software Blender. This model served as a foundation from which a larger virtual landscape evolved, gradually incorporating additional 3D models to create scenes for his paintings. Representing this part of the process, Fiction of the Village in Frames also includes a video work showing animated scenes based on the artist’s 3D models. Consequently, both the paintings and video work act as windows within the gallery, offering glimpses into his interconnected visual world.

 

Several paintings in the exhibition depict architectural structures as prominent features, accompanied by figures inhabiting the landscapes, gardens and courtyards. The works are awash with luminous pastel nuances and the painted figures bask in bright sunlight. Frygell’s eclectic colour combinations convey a sense of life and movement; an effect enhanced by the thick paint application which lends the paintings textured and three-dimensional surfaces.

 

In Frygell's works, motifs are not driven by narrative storytelling but emerge instead from a dynamic feedback loop. This process melds spontaneity, imagination and specific references to discover images not meticulously planned by the artist himself. For instance, textures from his paintings may reappear as skin on the 3D models in the artist’s video work. Completed artworks might be processed by an AI system to transform them into poems, which then serve as inspiration for new motifs. The sound of a childhood cassette tape can be manipulated through audio software to produce an experimental ambient track, played while Frygell sketches new works. The 3D landscapes are loosely inspired by places that he vividly recalls; as is the case in the painting Drawing by the Pond, which stems from the artist's recollection of his mother sitting and drawing next to a pond near his sister's preschool in Umeå, Sweden. Hence, the artistic process itself serves as the narrative driving the creation of Frygell’s imaginary realms.

 

The exhibition title Fiction of the Village in Frames is inspired by the fictional "City of Doors" from the fantasy tabletop role-playing setting Planescape by David Cook, released under Dungeons and Dragons in 1994. In a magical realist fashion, the City of Doors serves as a gateway to various metaphysical realms through paintings and other frames. Frygell’s exhibition title similarly suggests that images and screens shape our collective consciousness through shared symbols and narratives, while his work appears to delve into landscape painting as a potential carrier of this collective consciousness.

 

Mark Frygell (b. 1985 in Umeå, lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden) has studied at Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Sweden and Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna, Austria. His work has been shown in the Moderna Exhibition at Moderna Museet in Stockholm (2018), as well as multiple solo and group exhibitions in Sweden and internationally.