at home with ed. art

2 June 2022

- My first, own, real work of art, says Elisabeth and points to the wall in the living room. She smiles proudly at the memory.

- For me, as for many others, the path into contemporary art went via photography. I saw Japanese Rinko Kawauchi at the wonderful Fondation Cartier in Paris and then bought this little work through a gallery in London.

Thus the article from the home of ed. art founder Elisabeth Blennow Calälv begins, written by Jesper Tillberg and published in the latest issue of Plaza interior. Read the full story here (as a pdf, in Swedish). The pictures, taken by Sofie Blumenthal, with Elisabeth's comments about each artwork, are reproduced here:

Elisabeth on her sofa in front of works of art that she and her husband have collected over the years. What would a home be like without art? Art has been with us through all the twists and turns in our lives, some artworks are mainly hanging because they bring back memories, others because they are fantastic works of art in themselves. Our three children who are 8, 5 and 3 have also chosen artworks by my artists from time to time, so everyone in the family has their favorites.

• Mikael Wahrby "The Ice skating Pavilion" from ed. art - A fantastic, classic printmaking craft by an artist who depicts Stockholm in a naturalistic – but at the same time his very own – way

• Green landscape: Painting from Koster where my family has a country house, by an old artist named Astrid Tobiasson

• Bubbles: Astrid Sylwan who I used to work with made this for me and my husband when we got married

• Green landscape bottom line: Hans Viksten, a favorite artist

• Drypoint print by artist and illustrator Joanna Hellgren from Grafikens Hus

• Limited edition silkscreen print by Louise Bourgeois. I got as a Christmas card at my previous job at Galleri Andersson/Sandström. Probably the most valuable Christmas card I will ever get!

• Painting by Lisa Lundgren. Every year I try to buy a small work from one of the graduating students at Mejan. Lisa Lundgren graduated in 2019 and is now exhibiting at Björkholmen Gallery in Stockholm

• Cutout by Erik Ruin, a New York-based artist who made this for my husband Erik Blennow Calälv's album cover

• Ink drawing by British artist Lucy Glendinning - Hundred ways of falling. She made a hundred drawings of a falling body, I bought two of them when I worked with her a couple of years ago.

• Intaglio print by Anna Pajak. She graduated from the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm two years back and has had a splendid start to her career ever since. We sell the prints at ed. art and the paintings can be found at Wetterling Gallery.

• Barton Lidice Benes. A wonderfully twisted artist that my former boss Stefan Andersson at Galleri Andersson/Sandström worked with for a long time. Barton collected objects wherever he went and created the most amazing little assemblages. This little book angel has pencil stumps for can-can legs and the ruffled skirts are made of what comes off when you sharpen a pencil.

• My first, own, real work of art: a photograph by Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi

• Fredrik Söderberg was one of the first artists I collaborated with when I started ed. art. I never get tired of looking at the lithograph "Turning back to nature" with its marvelous world of images

• Cecilia Ömalm - "Le Grand Bleu" from ed. art. Cyanotype, where the blue color is created by iron salts, turns into a completely magical color tone in the prints!

• Two small works by Patrick Wagner from ed. art. The bumblebee was chosen by my middle son as a present, he completely fell in love with it.

• Annette Hammarén - Ön. Etching by one of ed. art's most loved artists who always manages to capture the enigma of nature

• Above the wardrobe: Gudrun Åsling's Figure IV, a figure in black drypoint with a shadow of luminous gold leaf. Gudrun and I have collaborated for a long time and this is a favorite, simple as it is.

• Above the desk: Theo Ågren "Untitled" chosen by my then two-year-old son as a Christmas present some time ago. It spoke to him, as it does to me. I love when there is humor in art!

• Linn Fernström's "White Elephant". The white elephant is a symbol of luck in some Asian cultures, here it becomes multifaceted since the boy standing on the elephant's back seems to control the others with puppet strings. The picture has an energy and a joy that I like. It is from a project we did with Linn a couple of years ago.

• "Virus Day painting no. 18" by Danish artist Ditte Ejlerskov. Made during the pandemic lockdown, I saw it on Instagram and bought it immediately, it has such a fantastic luster!

• Painting by Swedish artist Ivar Lövheim, from POM Gallery.

• Wonderful delicate and playful collage by Tobias Törnqvist, whose prints ed. art sells.

• Small painting by a Romanian painter if I remember correctly. Bought at one of the first online art fairs that we participated in at my previous job. Almost nothing sold, except what the gallery owners bought from each other!