Frederik Söderberg

Fredrik Söderberg is known for his complex and technically skilful paintings with precise and often symmetric compositions. The works treat vast and related subjects such as spiritualism, mysticism, esoterism and the occult. Created in moments of meditative flow, the painting-act becomes an exploration of the unknown and intangible. As in the works of Hilma af Klint, one of the pioneers of spiritual abstraction, art becomes a tool for connecting with something greater than the meagre life on earth; a dimension of spirituality, a gateway towards cosmos and a preparation for the unavoidable – death and possible afterlife. This exploration has become more relevant in a contemporary context severely marked by consumption and a fixation with the private and superficial self.

Söderberg’s work is largely inspired and informed by the spiritual, the esoteric and the occult, with references to such Buddhist traditions as tantrism and other oriental teachings. The western occult movements appearing at the end of the 1800s and beginning of the 1900s, with several of their initially obscure yet eventually influential protagonists, have also been a major source of inspiration and field for subjective mapping in Söderberg’s oeuvre. In many of the works a cosmic abstract expression is paired with an accurate figurative and archetypal style, incorporating pure and intricate mandala images inspired from Tibetan Buddhism and Native American nature religion and traditional crafts, all meticulously executed in watercolour, mineral colours and gold leaf.

Söderberg’s latest solo presentation was in The National Historical Museum in Stockholm in 2011. In 2010 he participated in the group show Nordic delight at the Swedish institute in Paris, and the same year, he exhibited at Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall.  Söderberg contributed to the book Hilma af Klint: Nine Contemporary Responses, published by Moderna Museet and Koenig Books in connection with the Venice Biennale 2013. Söderberg is represented in several important private and public collections, including Moderna Museet and Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall. With Carl Abrahamsson, Söderberg operates Edda Publishing that specializes in esoteric literature.

Courtesy of Galleri Riis