MATTIAS LILJEQVIST

Vadstena-based artist Mattias Liljeqvist explores the meeting between nature and art. For 15 years, Mattias has worked as a full-time artist, mainly with illusion painting, where he has performed many murals in public environments and other conceptual project assignments.

The passion for nature comes from growing up in Småland. The forest gives a safe and magical feeling and it has followed through life and is close to the heart.

Since 2017, Mattias focuses on art photographs with nature motifs during the project "Swedish Nature" where he combines the motifs with Trompe l'oeil (deceive the eye). The motifs should function as a bridge between our indoor environment and the real nature. You should be able to feel the feeling of leaves and branches that extend into the room, at the same time as the desire to step out past the board and into the forest.

Bringing nature indoors in the form of works of art has a strong health-promoting effect. Research has come a long way in measuring the effects of the forest on our well-being. Mattias works with calm and recovery as a tool, that the motif should feel embraced to capture the beauty of nature. This in combination with soundabsorbing material fits unusually well to have an additional calming effect.We need to charge our batteries to be able to perform in today's work. 

The magic of the forest
Art can be so much and a large part of art is about the beauty of the things we are surrounded by. Hiking in a beaten beech forest in early summer is magical to the eye. Nature is an artist like no other. Imagine that fern plants grew on earth 390 million years ago. A fascinating thought. Then it is easy to stop for a while and think about how everything has its given place.

The purpose is to capture the soul in Swedish nature just as it is. To be able to "stay" with the motive and not do anything again, which is a challenge in itself. The motifs become a kind of documentation of a place.

"When I see the motifs, it still feels like when I painted but now it's the camera that is the brush", Mattias adds and points to a large canvas in the studio.

He is driven by combining art, health and the magic of the forest - simply the magic of the forest.

A selection of exhibitions
Gummifabriken, Värnamo, Sweden
Vadstena art gallery, Vadstena, Sweden
Naturum - Store Mosse National park

Webbplats
https://www.mattiasliljeqvist.com