road signs

In Road Signs (Vägmärken), Kristina Matousch pits chance against regulations when the strongest symbol of chance – the dice – is given the colors we associate with the clearest rule bearers – road signs.

Kristina Matousch has explored various aspects of holes in recent years. Her works are often industrially manufactured, which means that surfaces and cuts become precise and sharp in contrast to the human body and the imprint of the hand. The works can touch on existential questions such as the desire to split, disappear or be enclosed. In everyday objects and chores, she finds subjects to process; for example, frying meatballs can be the starting point for a new work. Life charges the materials.

Road Signs 1-3 during our popup at Dahl Agenturer

In the prints series Road Signs, the holes have changed character and instead become eyes on a dice. Each side of the dice is presented separately and has been given the colors we recognize from road signs. For Matousch, Road Signs are about clear rules in relation to chance. Dice games are surrounded by a clear set of rules, but still it is chance that determines whether we win or lose. In Road Signs, the dice represent chance and the colors of the road signs stand for the opposite – the so-called common rules of the game that we have agreed upon in a society, in order to live together.

What lies ahead VIII and V where the shadows from the relief in the paper form the eyes of the dice in the white surfaces

In the unique prints What lies ahead, the bright colors are gone and have been replaced with a deep black that contrasts with the white paper. The eyes of the dice are clearly visible against the black color, but when they are found in the white surfaces, they only appear in relief.

Road Signs 3

Both Road Signs and What lies ahead are intaglio prints produced by the artist at Ateljé Larsen in Helsingborg. Road signs are printed in editions of 24 and What lies ahead are unique prints where each motif is only available in one copy.

About Kristina Matousch

Since graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm in 2000, Kristina Matousch has exhibited extensively around Sweden. She has also completed a large number of public works, including at Nya Karolinska and the large bronze sculpture Knopen Vid Medborgarhusets entre at Medborgarplatsen in Stockholm.