From October 17 to November 22, the Academy of Fine Arts will be showing a retrospective exhibition of sculptor Kajsa Mattas, who was recently awarded the 2020 Sergel Prize. The sculpture prize has been awarded every five years since 1945 and she is the second woman to receive the award. The previous female recipient was sculptor Eva Lange, in 2015.

Kajsa Matta's sculptures have a pure, clear and almost timeless design. She often uses materials such as plaster, ceramics and concrete and creates her designs in a process by kneading, carving and cutting out her monumental sculptures. Her public works can be seen in several places in Sweden; at Östra Ågatan in Uppsala, Slottsparken in Örebro, Motala Church and Görvälns Castle Park.

The exhibition includes around thirty works, several of which are newly produced and are shown together with works from 1985 onwards. In view of the pandemic, the exhibition will open without a special opening. 

Ideas can beomma from her meditations, she has been a Catholic for a long time. Her visual world has not been populated as it has become as a result of assignments, but because she needed it. It has to do with the basic elements. She does not give up, does not look away, is faithful to her driving forces and experiences – and one can imagine that unwritten notes of memory from an early age play a role.

Carl Otto Werkelid

> Read more about the Sergel Prize
> Read Carl Otto Werkelid's text for the exhibition
> Review in DN 4 Nov 2020