As Covid-19 continues to hinder in-real-life art interaction, Stockholm-based photographer (and longtime Wallpaper* contributor) Gustav Almestål and art director Hedvig Myhrman have devised a deft solution.
S.Y.L.A. (which stands for Support Your Local Artist) is a curated Instagram auction initiative aiming to bring ‘artists and audience closer together’ to give the Stockholm arts community a welcome boost in the process.
Live through February 2021, the curated auction brings together works in a spectrum of approaches and materials. Sculpture – in all its glorious forms – is a recurring theme, but available works also comprise ceramics, painting, textile art, pastel works, glass pieces, created by both emerging and established contemporary artists.
Erika Emerén, SLT, 2020
The formula is simple: prospective buyers can browse the available works on the S.Y.L.A website. When a piece piques their interest, they submit an offer (in Euros) via direct message on Instagram. One hour before the auction slot for a specific work ends, interested bidders are then connected in a thread, and the highest bidder becomes the proud new owner.
Many of the works share common threads, from references to key themes in art history to the artists’ cultural heritage as well as the ongoing pandemic. In Polnarnatt (2020) Sámi artist Carola Grahn combines reindeer hide, sinew thread and woollen fabric – materials traditionally used in duodji, a traditional Sámi craft, in a manner reminiscent of minimalist abstract painting. Siri Carlén’s colourful pastel drawing Still life (2018) sees everyday objects bear traces of the human hand as well as her folklore inspiration. Yngvild Saeter materialises her visions during a failed brain surgery, in the shamanistic biker-influenced Aragorn Light (2020) with antlers growing out of it.
S.Y.L.A. is both a timely reminder of the critical support needed for artists in a time of shared crisis, and a clever solution to art appreciation in our ongoing virtual reality.
Carola Grahn, Polnarnatt, 2020
Siri Carlén, Still Life, 2018
Yngvild Saeter, Aragorn Light, 2020
Jonatan Nilsson, Resin Vase, 2020
Sara Lundkvist, Ring i Ring
Nkuli Mlangeni-Berg, Congo Rug
Linnéa Gad, Tree Became Tounge
INFORMATION
S.Y.L.A. auctions will take place online through February 2021.
-
Year in review: top 10 audio acquisitions of 2024, as chosen by Wallpaper’s Jonathan BellThe best audio technology of 2024, from pocketable earbuds to room-filling speakers
-
Surrealism as feminist resistance: artists against fascism in Leeds‘The Traumatic Surreal’ at the Henry Moore Institute, unpacks the generational trauma left by Nazism for postwar women
-
A bold new water tower by White Arkitekter strides across the Swedish landscapeThe Våga Water Tower in Varberg is a monument to civil engineering, a functional concrete sculpture that's designed to last for centuries
-
Love, melancholy and domesticity: Anna Calleja is a painter to watchAnna Calleja explores everyday themes in her exhibition, ‘One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night’, at Sim Smith, London
-
Meet Kenia Almaraz Murillo, the artist rethinking weavingKenia Almaraz Murillo draws on the new and the traditional in her exhibition 'Andean Cosmovision' at London's Waddington Custot
-
Henni Alftan’s paintings frame everyday moments in cinematic renditionsConcurrent exhibitions in New York and Shanghai celebrate the mesmerising mystery in Henni Alftan’s paintings
-
Inside Jack Whitten’s contribution to American contemporary artAs Jack Whitten exhibition ‘Speedchaser’ opens at Hauser & Wirth, London, and before a major retrospective at MoMA opens next year, we explore the American artist's impact
-
Frieze Sculpture takes over Regent’s ParkTwenty-two international artists turn the English gardens into a dream-like landscape and remind us of our inextricable connection to the natural world
-
‘This blood that is flowing is my blood, and that should be a positive thing’: Tracey Emin at White CubeTracey Emin’s exhibition ‘I followed you to the end’ has opened at White Cube Bermondsey in London, and traces the artist’s journey through loss
-
Harlem-born artist Tschabalala Self’s colourful ode to the landscape of her childhoodTschabalala Self’s new show at Finland's Espoo Museum of Modern Art evokes memories of her upbringing, in vibrant multi-dimensional vignettes
-
Artist Peggy Kuiper’s impactful figurative works explore her memories and emotional landscape with striking visual intensityPeggy Kuiper presents ‘The Conversation That Never Took Place’ at Reflex in Amsterdam, featuring over 25 new works (until 13 July)
