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Svenska Dagbladet - Published 02 October 2007 - English Translation Humour Is The Key To Kate Lyddons Grotesque World Text: Anna Ångström In English Kate Lyddon’s picture world there is confusion and fear but also humour. She draws the viewer into everyday situations that are both worrying and entertaining. This autumn she has two solo exhibitions in Stockholm. In the cellar of Galleri Anders Lundmark on Södermalm in Stockholm, bizarre but very human, universal situations play out in the paintings. A man combs a woman’s hair; real hair stuck onto the canvas; and orange colour pours out from his mouth. On her body are the words ‘dirty devil’ and on his, ‘singing about some old flame’. -When I try to create a relation between the characters in the space I often get song lyrics in my mind. says Kate Lyddon, 28, who shows me around her new work a little like a pupeteer with her marionettes. On the same canvas, are two feet dangling strangely high up in the picture. -I want to have something odd in the paintings which doesn’t fit in. Something uncomfortable in the situation. she says and talks about a yellow flower which was inspired by her garden at home in London. We had just one flower and tried to keep it turned turned towards us and towards the sun but it didn’t want to. It faced into the neighbour’s garden instead. Kate Lyddon smiles carefully. She works best at home during the night and often under a deadline. There are small stories within these tactile collages where the paper’s structure becomes part of a sofa or a dress. Everyday life’s goals and relations are expanding in surprising ways. An arm can stick up out of a flowerpot and alarms the viewer. Humour is a way for Kate Lyddon to invite the viewer into her slightly grotesque world; a contrast to the seriousness. Aesthetically she is inspired by Francis Bacon, his colour and movement. I used to work with printmaking which still has an effect on the graphic qualities I use with collage. Kate Lyddon started to like painting as a child at home in Brighton. She studied at a very formal, traditional university in Canterbury. Through a long distance relationship with a Swedish boyfriend, she became interested in Stockholm and the Art School here. She then studied here as a guest student 2003-2005 which she described as being a release from the more traditional confines. In London she is currently taking part in group exhibitions. Here, she has two solo shows. The gallerist, Anders Lundmark, who also showed her work last year, told how the work this year had more male figures in it, that her work last year was dominated by women and the rivalry between them. A toreador appears in the pictures; in one image he swings a woman’s head in front of another woman. -Many of the characters are based loosely on people I know, but then exaggerated. The idea of the toreador arose from a joke about someone being self assured. I liked the idea of the toreador as a character. In the next image the woman becomes a flamenco dancer, a figure of freedom. This image was based on the lyrics from Engelbert Humperdink’s song, Release Me. The artist also is in a music band, The Crisps, together with among others, Alex Bowen. They played acoustic at the private view. After trying out the keyboard and cello, Kate Lyddon now plays the ukulele and sings. The instrument often appears in the pictures, like the guitar, for example over a couple sitting on a sofa. -I wanted to make something which has a tenderness, which shows the good life. I think the musical instruments also have a fine form. But snakes are winding around the bottom of the painting. With Kate Lyddon the idylicl is never clear cut or unambiguous.
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