‘Nothing & Horizon’ Solo exhibition at Slika Gallery, Lyon 2022.
In the early 1970s, the publisher Sandoz published a series of leaflets entitled “Psychopathology and pictorial expression”. This is a series of psychiatric case studies exploring art and the mind, each issue of which is embellished with illustrations from the patients’ own artistic work. The publications have captivating titles such as ‘Suburban Countess’, ‘Masks and Neophormisms in a Psychotic Girl’ but also, my favourite: ‘Unusual Materials in the Work of Schizophrenics’. What are the USUAL materials in the work of schizophrenics?
Daniel and I are fascinated by the raw honesty and iconic intensity of psychiatric art, so when he presented me with the works in this new exhibition I looked at them as if it were a publication belonging to the series of case studies from publisher Sandoz. But how to name it? “Nothing & Horizon” seems like an excellent title. Daniel is an elegant cunning, his raw expressiveness spontaneously appearing as primitive symbols containing coded language. Many of the works he presents to you, French visitors, strike me as both stylish and neurotic dancers, moving through a club to an experiential soundtrack. They are mischievous, flirty, enigmatic and so chic in their clumsiness.
I asked her to make a list of things currently in her mind. In response, I received a series of messages giving fantastic raw material for my Ekta version as a Sandoz publication. Simply asking what I should call him for this text – Daniel Götesson or Ekta – resulted in a dualistic non-response (which I apparently prefer). But some key elements of his answer particularly enlightened me: his thoughts on navigating the void through trickery, losing interest when friction is resolved, and actively avoiding being deciphered and explained. “I’m more interested in creating problems than solving them,” American artist Jason Rhoades once said, and it seems our Ekta is moving to the same music as Rhoades. VS’ is as if the smoke machine and the flickering lights of Daniel’s mind had filled the dance floor with his works, jostling each other in a wondrous enigma of disjointed movements. But don’t be afraid, put on your headphones, get up and dance.
Colleague, friend and dancer / Jonas Liveröd