Josefin Gäfvert: Ursprungsformer / Original Forms
SOFT Galleri, Oslo, NO
11.01. – 18.02.2024

SOFT Gallery is pleased to present the Swedish artist Josefin Gäfvert’s first solo exhibition in Norway. Welcome to the exhibition opening on Thursday, 11 January, 6–8 pm.

In Ursprungsformer / Original Forms, Josefin Gäfvert shows both double-woven and damask tapestries. They are mainly woven in wool on a drawloom. She exhibits her two first damask works from 2019, selected works from her time at the school Konstfack in Stockholm, as well as brand-new works. 

Gäfvert is inspired by the interactions between colours and by how the partnership between herself, the material and the loom opens up for new experiences. A work starts out as an abstract idea, but Gäfvert also follows the trail of whims and ideas that emerge during the creation process. Through dyeing yarn and using different techniques, for instance to include details that make the work less predictable, she tries to make the creation process uncertain. This forces her to trust her intuition. Each new shot of weft through the shed, each row, is a decision. She does not know where the weaving will take her. She finds this motivating, but it also makes weaving feel like a battle. As Gäfvert herself writes:

I have always been interested in the relationship between threads, the meeting between warp and weft. This meeting is in fact a meeting between colors. It is the joy of weaving, to experience the meeting when it occurs inthe loom, something that can be seen in the details of the weave. But it can also be frustrating because the colors always mix. The movement in the weave is always a reaction to what just happened, there is always a striving forward, nothing like the Greek myths where you can unweave your mistakes. The better the weaver I become, the more time-consuming it is to work with the unpredictable.

In the autumn of 2019, Gäfvert added a drawloom attachment to her Öxabäck loom. This was a natural development after several years of exploring how, without choosing a pattern, she could liberate herself from weaving’s inherent symetry. How does one put oneself in a weaving state where spoken language dissapears and is replaced by something else, yet something that flows just as freely? Through unpredictable phenomena and trust in her intuition, Gäfvert seeks a language in the material. Without a concrete plan or a specific visual idiom, immediate thoughts are made manifest, and ‘the now’ is preserved in the weave.

Josefin Gäfvert (b. 1988 in Gotland, Sweden) lives and works at Selaön, Stallarholmen, in Sweden. Weaving is her chosen artistic expression, most often in double weave or the damasque technique, woven with a drawloom. Gäfvert has a kandidat degree (2016) and a master’s degree from Konstfack (CRAFT! Textiles 2021). Along with her artistic practice, she teaches woodworking. Her works are included in the collections of Sweden’s Nationalmuseum. She has previously participated in exhibitions at places such as Röhsska in Gothenburg, Konstakademien in Stockholm, Marabouparken in Sundbyberg, Olseröds Konsthall and Konsthandtverkarna in Stockholm.

More information: https://www.softgalleri.no/