advent calendar

As a countdown to Christmas, we've asked ed. art artists to recommend an artwork they particularly like from our selection. Each day until Christmas eve we present them on Instagram, but for those of you curious, here's the full list!

Just as we had hoped, it has helped bring out into the light a few unexpected, older works, but also given new angles to better known ones. 

1. Cecilia Ömalm: Sten Eklund "Tornado"

The artist behind our best-selling artwork Sea of Tranquility, has fallen for Sten Eklund’s ”Tornado”, which she finds "Headstrong, imaginative and thrilling"

2. Malou da Cunha Bang:  Clay Ketter ”Play Serious 133 (yellow, horse)"
Malou da Cunha Bang’s own works are often unsettling, large-scale depictions of  the public sphere. She has picked a work from Clay Ketter’s ”Play Serious” series; ”I love the simplicity"

3.Eva Kerek: Finn Öhlund ”Untitled V”
Eva Kerek is a painter and printmaker who loves colour. That’s what drew her to this untitled work by Finn Öhlund, she says!

4.Martin Thelander: Tore Berger ”Landskap I” 
Martin Thelander is a conceptual artist whose work is always double-sided. He has picked a work by 80 year old artist and performer Tore Berger, and writes:

It was wonderful seeing Tore Berger celebrate his 80 years with a performance at the Pygméteatern in Stockholm. Tore's ballads about historical figures have been a significant source of inspiration to me. Now it's not these ballads that come to mind when seeing this artwork. It is a verse from Solnedgång vid Fagertärn (1999), freely translated here:

The roses of the Neck close
by Fagertärn at dusk
We stand like the elks and watch
the red sun setting
against the Tiveden forest silhouette
This moment everything
feels right.

5. Patrick Wagner: Magnus Dahl ”Acid drops”
There is no need in saying that Patrick Wagner, who has been teaching printmaking at the Royal Institute of Fine Art in Stockholm these last years, is an acclaimed printmaker. He has worked with Magnus Dahl at the school and has picked a work by Magnus as a favorite:

"In terms of printmaking, Magnus and I seem to live on different planets. I love that his prints maintain the depth and colour sensibility that I enjoy in his paintings, and "Acid Drops" is a great example of this. My skeleton prints need black lines to define the borders of things, to hold the image together - Magnus has no need for such crutches, with ease and determination he makes works that appear simple, but give long-lasting joy to the beholder. Behind one colour, another one lurks. One can always go deeper into the print."

6. Mikael Wahrby: Kjell Andersson ”Stomps 3”
Mikael Wahrby masterfully captures light by using only black ink in his aquatint etchings. He has picked a very colorful work by Kjell Andersson: "Stomps 3" is like a brilliant trumpet solo that is preformed sensitively and with absolute pitch. The work makes me think of Henri Matisse's collage series called ”Jazz”."

7. Cilla Ramnek: Ann Edholm ”Wake”
Cilla Ramnek describes her own abstractions s images that are actually ”real”, but have been reproduced in her own alphabet. From the artworks at ed-art.se, she has picked Ann Edholm’s ”Wake:

"There is a difference between a square and a square. If you are familiar with the work of Ann Edholm, you know the consistency with which her ideas take shape in her works of art. Her ”Wake” is no exception. A squared, black frame in my eyes work as a sort of distillate; throw all imaginable art into a large pot and boil for a long time on low heat and - Voila, we see Ann Edholm’s artwork emerge! Art to hold on to and to stick to when tides are high."

8. My Ekman: Roger Metto ”Mask”
My Ekman’s works are primarily abstract, but colorful. For her, colors enhance and express a mood. And she has picked a colourful work of art for our Advent Calendar: "Roger Metto’s lithograph ”Mask” draws you into a vibrant world of presence and triggers your imagination" 

9. Bo Söderström: Gudrun Åsling ” Syntes I”
Bo Söderström is a master of transforming vibrant colour into light and space. He has picked a work by Gudrun Åsling, Syntes I (Synthesis I), the first in a series of 6 prints; ”It is a work that plays both at depth and on the surface!"

10. Anneè Olofsson: LG Lundberg ”Genomströmning I”
Darkness is ever-present in the work of Anneè Olofsson. And it is a work of art with apparent darkness which has caught her attention: ”Genomstromning” by LG Lundberg. "This work tells me a lot more than the artwork itself - it has a never-ending number of layers of interpretation. I see a ”fence” but I also look behind it. The blackness contains so much. To dare to trust and learn to like the blackness of an artwork, that it is darkness, not just a color. And in the dark, there is a lot to explore. I also read that LG Lundberg had his first solo exhibition in 1966 – the year I was born. That felt special!"

11. Nacho Tatjer: Mari Rantanen ”Tools to make dreams come true”
Nacho Tatjer sticks his constant flow of impressions onto anything that passes his way; be it paper, wood or printing plate. He says that Mari Rantanen is on the tip of the top of his favorite artists at ed. art: "I like to stare at some of Mari Rantanen’s works. She uses a very particular colour scale which makes her works unique. They are psychedelic, seductive and brilliantly elaborated. Imagine being yourself in Mari's head!" 

12. Magnus Dahl: Patrick Wagner ”Black Heart Magic”
Magnus Dah is interested in the boundaries between printmaking and painting. He finds the work Black Heart Magic by Patrick Wagner “a poetic, esoteric and futuristic formula on the conditions of printmaking”

13. Tobias Törnqvist: Annette Hammarén ”Ön”
Tobias Törnqvist himself is a printmaker who has worked alongside Annette Hammarén in the printshop and been inspired by her knowledge and the way of developing her own methods of printing. "’The island’ makes me want to travel away somewhere "

14. Roger Metto: Charlotte Gyllenhammar ”Rubin”
Roger Metto’s colourful landscape portrayals have escaped few of ed. art’s clients. He has picked Charlotte Gyllenhammar’s ruby ”because it is a wonderful illusion".

15. Jacob Dahlgren: Martin Thelander "Hjärta (svanar)"
Jacob Dahlgren travels the world with his subtly humorous abstractions. His choice falls on Martin Thelander’s work: “Conceptual art that is embarrassing, banal, dry and SO GOOD”.

16. Gudrun Åsling: Bo Söderström ”Orange grön lila - samman”
Despite the hard angles of Gudrun Åsling’s abstract shapes, there is a softness in her imagery. She feels that the first meeting with “orange grön lila – samman” by Bo Söderström is alluring. “It is an image hard to pass, strong but with intimacy”

17. Ann Frössén: Disa Rytt ”Untitled II, 2018"
Ann Frössén has worked with and around the sea as a motif large parts of her career. Her pick for the Advent Calendar is something totally different:“Disa Rytt’s work has such clarity. I enjoy the confident touch and the precision of the lines! It makes me fantasize and be inspired. A obvious favorite!

18. Annette Hammarén: Magnus Dahl ”Kepler’s universe”
Anette Hammarén’s dark but dreamy landscapes evoke childhood memories in many viewers. She has fallen for Magnus Dahls ”Kepler’s Universe”, but says it is hard to find the right words: “It is earthbound and the universe at the same time”

19. Finn Öhlund: Eva Kerek ”Fika på en söndag"
Finn Öhlund has, among many other things, tried to explore the "magical" influence that art has on us through the different levels of our consciousness. He likes Eva Kerek’s “Fika på söndag (Coffee break on a Sunday): “A very nice composition and a fun image of the simple-but-mad kind! I like it very much, especially because of the kind of sloppy and simplified touch. The fire basket above the coffee table is an exciting detail. And the cinnamon rolls actually look really good!”

20. Charlotte Gyllenhammar: Cecilia Ömalm "Sea of Tranquility”
The works of Charlotte Gyllenhammar touch upon themes such as vulnerability, rootlessness, control and conflict, but beauty is still ever-present. Cecilia Ömalm’s “Sea of Tranquility” makes her think of “a shining eye in the blue hour..."

21. Fredrik Söderberg: Mikael Wahrby ”Biologiska museet”
Fredrik Söderberg, himself a master of richly detailed water colour paintings, has picked Mikael Wahrby’s ”Biologiska museet”. “It is a quiet and labyrinthic little masterpiece that soberly depicts a favorite museum of mine. Black and white etchings carry on an increasing nostalgia for me, here motif and technique form a perfect expression.”

22. Linda Samuelsson: Mari Rantanen ”Paradisets port”
Linda Samuelsson’s abstractions are often based on ”real” images whose content has been digitally "destroyed" by the manipulating the code. The dark palette of her prints stand in stark contrast to those of Mari Rantanen: “What I like about Mari Rantanen’s prints is the combination of colours, that there can be, at the same time, such distinct meetings as well as subtle nuances.”

23. Alexandra Kern: Clay Ketter ”Road 1c"
”I’m dreaming in four shades of gray and of a white Christmas” says Alexandra Kern, an accomplished painter and printmaker who often uses nature as a source of inspiration for her work. She has chosen Clay Ketter’s “Road 1c” as the last of our artists' picks for the Advent Calendar!

24. ed. art: Mamma Andersson "Absint"
At the end of the Advent Calendar, and of this art year, ed. art likes to wish all customers, partners and artists a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with the most Christmasy of all our artworks, the lito/woodcut "Absint" Mamma Andersson.