Mark Frygell

Tag: 2026
  • Spring books

    Spring books

    Two fantastic books I have been reading lately. I have been a little bit fed up with literature for a couple of years but as always with books it’s about finding the right ones.

    Someone else can probably sum them up better but Technic and Magic is about the relationship in-between society as a control mechanism/reality definer (technic) and imagination of other realities as the way in which we move beyond rigid systems (magic).

    Back to Reims is a beautiful description of class a  journey and at the same time a credible study of the racist right wing movements of the western world and how these are related to the abandonment of the working class.

    They have been invaluable inspiration in a time when the world is on fire and art in general is very commercialized and stale or flat and overtly political in a way that mostly feels forced and about positioning.

    There is still an abundance of artists that make fantastic work though. I feel like the biggest problem, for artists is the expectations on style and consistency. Something that inevitably paints you into a corner as an artist of repeating images that, once outplayed by zeitgeist, easily can be discarded and replaced.

    I have been on Instagram for 20 years almost until I stopped and it’s interesting to think back on all those artists that where all over instagram 10 years ago and now I remember almost none of them.

    I think an alternative for artists is to seek ways of expression within their own practice and let the glue that sticks all the work together be the concise path you follow. In my opinion this has been demonstrated especially well by female artists the past 50 years. I’m talking about artist like Camille Henrot, Sophie Calle, Louise Bourgeois, Ida Ekblad, Jana Euler etc

    Diverse practices shifting in themes, material and look while still maintaining a certain obtuse feel that reminds of the artist herself. In many ways making them irreplaceable.

    Not directly related to the books above but still something that revolves around a certain kind of topics connected to resistance, imagination, dealing with capitalism, individual/class freedom and art making.

  • Updates 13 march 26

    Updates 13 march 26

    Some process and info on what’s going on.

    I’m hard at work with my animated short at the moment. It’s a slow process but very interesting and it gives me alot. Still quite some months until I need to be done but animation might be one of the most time consuming art forms you can get into. Luckaly I already got some guidance and help from Minna Floss and Oskar Aglert.

    Once or twice per week I still go to my big studio to work with sculpture and painting. I attached some images that (very poorly in my hallway) documents the first one I finished. They are made of garbage covered in acrylic plaster, cut, sanded and polished. Painting is also coming along nicely with some new work and I’m slowly building up the pieces of a puzzle that I think will come together as a really nice show. In some sense, since my kid was born, I feel like everything is falling in place like I haven’t experienced before.

    As for upcoming shows etc I have some stuff coming up in the fall of this year as well as a solo show in Lund at the legendary Krognoshuset early 2027. In spring I will finish a mural att Virserums konsthall outside of Kalmar. I’m making a record design with New York punk band Extream Sports and building a ENORMOUS recording library with my own music in preparation for my next record.

    My days are otherwise playing out in a different pace than before and coming home and working is shifting over to coming home and being with my family. I always thought work more = better but I’m slowly getting accustomed to the idea that maybe there is a better way.

    On the intellectual side Federico Campagnas texts has helped me alot and given me new excitement to think about my work in a different way. As always with theory, it’s more about connecting than understanding and it was many years since I connected with text in this way.

    Other than this the world is on fire. Trump and Netan-yahoo is acting like big insane babies and I find comfort in looking at work by Camille Henrot, Jana Euler and Martin Kippenberg. Nothing ever changes. Leaders are still despicable.

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