Introduction by Gerrit Willems
The portraits of Linderholm’s young son
“The portraits of his young son, form a remarkable group within Axel Linderholm’s body of work. The child is always seen up close, never far away. The surrounding motifs — the Tripp Trapp chair, the table, the window, the cupboard, the bathtub, or the plastic toy car wash — firmly anchor the figure within the composition.
For these portraits, Linderholm begins with a drawing, I believe, to observe with greater precision. Perhaps also to preserve the moment before it slips away. They are painted while that first observation is still fresh, captured before the image becomes a memory.
In his other works — landscapes and parks, urban spaces, domestic scenes and interiors — the figures appear at a greater distance. They are less clearly defined, almost elusive. The motifs drift through a dreamlike atmosphere, becoming memories, stories and moments from the past. They, too, originate in direct observation, but now they have moved further away, deeper into memory.
Many of these subjects, like the portraits, return again and again. Linderholm repeats and varies them. He has said that this repetition helps him gain a better understanding of the world as it presents itself to him. Through repetition, the subjects gradually leave the personal behind. They lose their original meaning and become universal, open to new interpretations.
That is why I am so fond of these portraits of his son. In them, I can see my own son — and my grandson.”
