Karin Mamma Andersson

Karin Mamma Andersson was bord in Luleå, Sweden in 1962. In the late spring of 1983, when she was in her early 20s, she moved to Stockholm to study sculpture at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design (Konstfack), but after a year, she realised that she would change direction.

— Early on, I understood that it always was painting that pulled me in. I guess it was primarily about the colours. Sculpture felt a bit too complicated and too slow, so I applied to Gerlesborg School of Fine Art where I studied for two years before enrolling at the Royal Institute of Art. I soon began working as a guard at different museums in the city. These years spent at the Modern Museum of Art, Nationalmuseum and the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities were very important for my development as an artist.

It was during this time that Mamma Andersson went into Svenskt Tenn’s store for the first time. The beginning of a fascination that would last for decades.

— For some reason, Svenskt Tenn became the place I secretly went to see the beautiful life, to gather a particular kind of inspiration. I visited the store for nearly 20 years without ever buying anything because I couldn’t afford it, but that was never the point of the visits, she says.

Above all, it was Josef Frank who caught her interest; especially his fabrics, but Estrid Ericson also made an impression over the years.

— Josef Frank’s textiles have boldness, playfulness and a fantastic skilfulness. For me, colour and pattern are among the basics when it comes to painting. Many painters are obsessed with textiles, which is completely natural. Henri Matisse, who collected Suzani embroidery, is one example. Estrid Ericson has interested me more and more over the years, especially her eye for the beautiful and elegant, and her ability to gather both sophisticated and simple items. She really was ahead of her time.

As an artist, Mamma Andersson depicts living interiors, bare landscapes, and scenes from daily life in creations that evoke emotions, curiosity, and wonder. She created her very first interior design collection for Svenskt Tenn in 2021, in conjunction with “The Discreet Charm.” Exhibition. The name comes from the title of Luis Bunuel’s 1972 film, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie”. It refers, among other things, to her own relationship with bourgeois traditions, both its virtues and its vices.

Karin Mamma Andersson represented Sweden at the Venice Biennale in 2003. In 2018 she curated an exhibition at the São Paulo Art Biennial in Brazil. Karin Mamma Andersson’s artworks have been exhibited in a number of galleries and museums around the world and are part of the collections at MoMa in New York, MoCA in Los Angeles, the National Museum in Oslo and Moderna Museet in Stockholm, among others.