Öyvind Fahlström
1928 - 1976
Born in Sao Paulo (Brazil), died in Stockholm (Sweden).
Öyvind Fahlström (São Paulo, 1928 - Stockholm, 1976) has been undervalued and generally badly situated in the history of art. He has often been defined as an eccentric forerunner of European Pop Art. But although he did draw on an imaginary from the world of Pop Art and pay particular attention to the creative potential of the new mass media and underground culture, his work stands out for its high level of conceptual complexity and because it is based on his most profound moral and political convictions.
Fahlström addresses a spectator-reader who is capable of following and deciphering superimpositions of signs and figures. He is committed to a knowing public that is prepared to participate in his singular plays on exorcism and attempts at freedom. From Opera (1953) to his large testamentary paintings from the series Night Music and his monumental installations The Little General (Pinball Machine)(1967-1968) and Meatball Curtain (for R. Crumb) (1969), his works advocate an expansion of the boundaries of art, inspired by the operatic model that embraces performance, music, film and political activism.
