ketter

Clay Ketter is one of Sweden’s most respected and well-known artists of today. Through the years, Ketter has conceived several series of prints. ed. is now proud to present the series Details, New Sculpture, Roads and Play Serious.

Clay Ketter had his big break-through in the nineties with the Wall Paintings consisting of plaster, filler and screw, reminiscent of the wall that held the artworks, but at the same time precisely composed works of abstract art. Since then, Ketter has continued working with construction and abstraction. That any surface consists of layer upon layer of coated materials is the founding idea of the artist's oevre, everything from the alrady mentioned Wall paintings to the acclaimed aerial photos of the tattered buildings that Hurricane Katrina left behind.

Architectural details are the subject in the series Details of 2000. These photo engravings closely examine the tracks of our lives; worn linoleum carpets, fifties kitchens, the traces of a removed toilet.

The line etchings/drypoints of the New Sculpture series also twist and turn the architecture and the shapes that surround us, this time wrenched, deconstructed or flattened by the artist's pen.

The photo gravures of the Roads series show us the arteries of our communities–the roads. In large format and amazingly well-defined prints, we are invited to examine these asphalt veins that cross and connect one societies. But to the same extent, they are abstract, contemplative images.

Play Serious is a suitable title for the playful thermographic prints that are the latest addition to Ketter’s print production. The background is made up of art historical masterpieces. On top of these images, a dyed children's toy–a plastic template with trucks, clothing or dinosaurs–has been placed. When the template and the paper are run through the printing press, under three tons of pressure, both a color and a relief print is produced in the paper. A serious game, creating masterful, three-dimensional prints.

Ketter was born in 1961 in Brunswick, Maine, USA, but lives and works Malmö since many years. He was educated at the School of Art + Design, Purchase College, New York State. Today, his works can be found in all the major Swedish museum collections in addition to several art institutiona around the world.

See all works by Clay Ketter