About
Once again Ulf Rollof has invented both himself and his works of art. During his more than 40 year long career he keeps finding new ideas to surprise the observer. Ulf Rollof will never stop, he has always been ahead of his time and will have many more years to consolidate his platform as one of the most important and hard working artists from Sweden. Rollof has been part of the International art scene since the late 1980s when he achieved his big breakthrough with several stripped-bare yet innovative and existential installations. As early as 1992, he participated in Documenta in Kassel, and since then, he's had a long series of important solo exhibitions; the Venice Biennale, Kiasma (Finland), MUAC (Mexico) and the celebrated exhibition 2018 at Moderna Museet in Malmö.
The theme for Rollof during his early career was to give us suggestions how to survive. In 1985 Rollof arrived as a young man to the American-Mexican border and found himself in the middle of an earthquake catastrophe that cost thousands of lives. This shocking experience left deep marks in his artistry in the early nineties and he created amazing life-saving machines: bellows, fly-traps, heated seats, protective clothing. During this time, survival was his sole focus.
Pairs is his fifth exhibition with CFHILL; Kleptomaniac 2016 and Pinocchio, Pirates & Other Female Creatures 2017, exhibited for the first time the innovative monochrome façade paintings that can be illuminated and flash in dark. As of now the theme was not only survival; the sea with surfboards, pirates, maps and sandy beaches - inspired from his long-time love for South America - appeared in the motifs. The colours grew more vibrant and started to install hope. The new chapter shines through even stronger in The Wellspring 2019 and specially after the pandemic when Rollof was overwhelmed by all the beauty found in nature. During his walks around Stockholm together with his soulmate and dog Soli he had started to discover colorful flowers, the experience became the exhibition Narcissus 2023.
In Pairs Rollof develops a new way to combine his well known bullet hole paintings made of glossy glass with blooming silicon mounted narcissus; pain and beauty opens the door to the future and evokes an unexpected optimism.
