NUG
26.01—10.02.24
Gallery Steinsland Berliner proudly presents an exhibition by Swedish artist NUG. NUG’s expression is cultivated in the streets and guided by a painterly sensitivity. His artistic practice has long taken place in the public sphere of the city, to the outrage of some and acclaim of others, as has always been the case with the generally dividing issue of art and writing in public spaces. In his own right and as part of the famed crew VIM (Vandals in Motion), NUG’s influence has been of great importance to the graffiti scene in Sweden and beyond. NUG has previously surpassed the borders of what is generally expected from artists in his own field of practice, his duration at Konstfack from where he earned an MFA was perhaps not an obvious path and its culmination in his final degree project Territorial Pissing (from 2008) a video documentation which showed a masked individual spraying a Stockholm city subway tram was met with criticism from the then Swedish Minister of Culture and sparked a debate about the limitations and rightful definitions of art and its place in public spaces.
NUG has since been invited to exhibitions all over the world but has kept mostly to himself, as is his style. He continues to move around the city, leaving his mark for those in the know to find it. The close-to canonization of NUG and his work has not necessarily had the personal impact on him as one generally might expect looking at it from the outside. There is surely an ambition of artistic greatness and acknowledgement burning inside NUG but the lifestyle of which he has dedicated his life to is perhaps a bigger beast, one that consumes and dictates a life lived mostly on the outskirts of what is deemed conventional. Once again, NUG finds himself subject of these ever-recurring questions about the rules of art itself. What defines an artist? Is it formal training? Or a sacred right? If you haven’t exhibited in years, are you no longer deemed worthy? Even if it has no negative impact on the respect placed on your name?
The works seen in NUG’s first exhibition in several years have been mostly created during the night in the privacy of his own home. There are paintings and sketches, some bearing resemblance to his more abstract black and white paintings, others more closely related to a traditional graffiti style which NUG has been associated with since a young age. Some of the works include appearances from other artists, a show of allegiance and a mirroring of the variety found in the public urban arena.
Join us for the opening on Friday 26.01.24 between 17.00-20.00. Contact us at info@steinslandberliner.com to receive information on available works by the artist.