Matts Leiderstam

Through a body of work developed over the past 8 years, including new projects produced specially for DCA, Swedish artist Matts Leiderstam took us on a ‘Grand Tour’, a fascinating, witty and intelligent exploration of landscape painting and the origins of tourism. In it, he referenced some of the most celebrated artists in the field, including Constable, Poussin and Courbet.

The original ‘Grand Tour’ began in the 17th century, when it became highly fashionable for young (male) aristocrats and artists to travel to Italy. Leiderstam’s suitably grand project inspired by this phenomenon offered us an alternative view of its history by mirroring it within a contemporary context and a homosexual perspective.

Leiderstam’s ‘Grand Tour’ comprised his own paintings, in which he revisited historical works, often copying the originals, in an attempt to re-connect with the landscape and the eyes with which it was seen, confronting the past from the present. These were shown along with a range of visual instruments – magnifying glasses, binoculars and other ‘tools for seeing’ – as well as books, photographs and objects, all of which imbued fixed, formal histories with personal fantasy and desire.

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Matts Leiderstam: Grand Tour

19.02.05 - 05.06.05 Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm
30.07.05 - 25.09.05 Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee
26.11.05 - 15.01.06 Goteborg Konsthall, Göteborg
10.03.06 - 21.05.06 Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz