New paintings spring 2012


Snowdrops from a Curate´s Garden I, The Hidden Landscape of Subconscious I, 2012
Watercolour on paper 76 x 54 cm, 33 x 23 cm 


Snowdrops from a Curate´s Garden III, The Hidden Landscape of Subconscious III, 2012
Watercolour on paper 54 x 74 cm,  55 x 45cm 


Pan II, 2012
Watercolour and leafgold on paper 74 x 54 cm

Two new paintings from the Meditation series


                                                                         Meditation 27, 2011
                                                                                  Watercolour and leafgold on paper 13 x 13 cm


                                                                                                      Meditation 30, 2011
                                                                                 Watercolour and leafgold on paper 24 x 18 cm
         Paintings from the book White Stains, by Aleister Crowley


Abysmos, 2011
Watercolour on paper 27 x 18 cm

At Stockholm, 2011
Watercolour and leaf-gold on paper 27 x 18 cm

The Rainbow, 2011
Watercolour on paper 27 x 18 cm

With Dog And Dame An October Idyll, 2011
Watercolour on paper 27 x 18 cm

Yet Time to Turn, 2011
Watercolour on paper 27 x 18 cm

                                                                     Adul-Rune II

Adul-Rune II, 2011
Watercolour and leaf-gold on paper 76 x 56 cm

Pictures from the forthcoming book, 
The Enchanted Park by Astrid Trotzig and me.
 Published by Wanås Art, 2011
  

Watercolour and leaf gold on paper 30 x 30 cm, each, 2011

Pictures from the exihibition A Journey Back and Forth
at Historiska Museet, Stockholm Sweden 2011



Interior from the collectors room 2011, lead glass, stuffed animals,
water colours, human bones, etc

Adul-Rune 2011


Adul-Rune, 2011
Watercolour on paper 32 x 24 cm


Night Spirits & Day Spirits

Night Spirits, 2009
Watercolour on paper 50 x 28 cm


Day Spirits, 2009
Watercolour on paper 50 x 28 cm
                                                             
Pictures from my trip to the old world, Egypt 2011






                                         
                                New Pictures spring 2011

C.G . Jungs House with Mandala, 2011
Watercolour on paper 76 x 56 cm
                                                      

Johannes Itten Composition, 2011
Watercolour on paper 64 x 54 cm


The Temple in the Morning, 2011
Watercolour on paper 76 x 56 cm


Serpent Sun, 2011
Watercolour on paper 45 x 34 cm


New paintings for the Nordic Delight exhibition at SI, Paris 8 Oct 2010

The Anatomy of Sexuality IV - Franz von Bayros Dream, 2010
Watercolour on paper 150 x 100 cm


The Anatomy of Sexuality V - The Fountain of Fortune, 2010
Watercolour on paper 150 x 100 cm


Summer Solstice II, 2010
Watercolour on paper 74 x 54 cm


AOS III - The Black Spirit in my Dreams, 2010
Watercolour on paper 105 x 76 cm


New Works Summer 2010

Konx Om Pax, 2011
Watercolour on paper 76 x 56 cm


AOS III - The Black Spirit in my Dreams2010
Watercolour on paper 105 x 76 cm


AOS Woodcut Portrait2010
Watercolour on paper 40 x 28 cm


Installation view Milliken Gallery Volta Art Fair, 2010

Review in Frieze Magazine 2010 by Jacquelyn Davis

Fredrik Söderberg
Published on 20/04/10 Frieze Magazine
MILLIKEN GALLERY , STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

This striking collection of Fredrik Söderberg’s watercolour paintings, entitled ‘We Pray to the Sun and Hail the Moon’, may inspire engaged viewers to question their relationship with infinity and perhaps even dissuade some from swallowing the world’s investment with spiritual redemption or continuing to embrace a detached narcissism. Söderberg’s charm lies in his explorative mapping of self-reflective spiritualisms, as well as in his ability to create provocative microcosms inspired by our own spheres – even if his works may appear cryptic to some.
Linked to the transcendental teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley’s philosophies on ceremonial magic and the occult, these unearthed energies are a fresh discovery for those who find themselves removed from any form of spiritualism. Much like Crowley’s wide array of eclectic interests, Söderberg’s paintings investigate the unknown from diverse angles. At first glance, rich watercolours such as Avebury (2009) appear to be timeless landscapes when they are actually secular perspectives focused on the geographies of meditation and transformation. Others, such as Summer Solstice (2008) and The Beginning of Magick II (2008), are extreme in their quest to enlighten the viewer about the pervasive foundation fuelling the occult. These paintings visually interpret hierarchical connections between energy and power through balanced geometries and the recurring presence of cosmic forces – a massive sun or seductive moon – reminding one of a secret Masonic history or ancient Egyptian influences.
Some of Söderberg’s paintings appear to be more preoccupied with a mysterious means to a justifiable spirituality rather than any specific end. In Mandragora (2009), the artist painted a solitary mandrake root suspended, presented as an object worthy of further examination. For the mandrake root is directly associated with occult practices, facilitating rituals and harbouring mythologies related to its own hallucinogenic powers and aphrodisiacal abilities. In Ritual II (2009), time has stopped and the moment of the sacrificial act – whether it is sinister or harmless – becomes the true focal point. Viewers may find themselves questioning the border between psychosexual effrontery and pre-emptive violence.
Such explorations into the occult remain appealing because this cosmic voyage, in part, embodies and preserves the core existential concepts of modern works such as Albert Camus’ The Rebel (1956), in which he writes, ‘But from the moment when a movement of rebellion begins, suffering is seen as a collective experience. Therefore the first progressive step for a mind overwhelmed by the strangeness of things is to realize that this feeling of strangeness is shared with all men and that human reality, in its entirety, suffers from the distance which separates it from the rest of the universe … I rebel – therefore we exist.’ Söderberg cultivates this singular feeling of strangeness that we collectively experience as human beings. Placing emphasis on cultural faux-pas and exception, ‘We Pray to the Sun and Hail the Moon’ exhibits the contradictory influences of cultural artefacts versus the fantastic – but not as they were meant to be initially consumed. Herein lies the beauty of representation. The freedom to rebel is often followed by delightful confusion; Söderberg has managed to instigate both aforementioned sentiments, clearing a trail for the unpredictable. ‘He makes solemn claims for his art spawning alternative experiences,’ comments Ronald Jones in an accompanying exhibition essay, ‘especially where the mysteries of life are concerned. In this sense Söderberg’s art discovers new spiritual vistas, while being earnest, proactive, pre-scientific, and post-critical. His art is allergic to irony.’ Perhaps there is hope for the diligent and searching after all.

Jacquelyn Davis

Installation Views Milliken Gallery 2010

We Pray to the Sun and Hail the Moon, 2010
Installation view Milliken Gallery, Stockholm


We Pray to the Sun and Hail the Moon, 2010
Installation view Milliken Gallery, Stockholm


We Pray to the Sun and Hail the Moon, 2010
Installation view Milliken Gallery, Stockholm


We Pray to the Sun and Hail the Moon, 2010
Installation view Milliken Gallery, Stockholm


We Pray to the Sun and Hail the Moon, 2010
Installation view Milliken Gallery, Stockholm


We Pray to the Sun and Hail the Moon, 2010
Installation view Milliken Gallery, Stockholm

Essay by Ronald Jones, 2010

Fay çe que vouldras. 

However, we know that in our desire and others' expectations after some time will be a general reformation of both divine and human things. For, before sunrise, the sky illuminated by the dawn light.
                                                                                                                    Fama Fraternitatis, 1614

Above all, one must soberly accept Fredrik Söderberg’s new paintings as the sacred atlas of his spiritual search for an answer to life’s fundamental question: “What happens after death?”  In Judaism, Christianity and Islam the divine resurrection of human beings by means of a spiritual awakening and transformation into a life after death, is a central doctrine.  And while Söderberg shares this spiritual optimism with conventional religions, he finds his comfort within the realm of the esoteric and occult, especially from the teachings and prophecies of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a complex fusion of teaching and ritual magickal practice that brought together Kabalistic cosmology, the Rosicrucian initiation system, ritual magick, Egyptology, astrology, tarot, and various other occult lineages.  To stare into his paintings therefore, is to see the hand of a seeker, a spiritual artist at work, as much as it is to gaze into Luca Signorelli’s Resurrection of the Flesh, 1499-1502.  In Symbols and Tools, 2009 we see a complex array of iconography including the Rose Cross Lamen, but far from an inert visual inventory, the iconography has the spiritual power to sink Söderberg into his occult trance life as he paints them.  In this painting, as well as others like Meditation 7, 2009, the symbols of the Golden Dawn literally instrumentalize his spiritual search. 

Of course the Golden Dawn has its own history around personalities like Aleister Crowley, the infamous occultist, drug addict, social provocateur, and sexual libertine who the British press demonized as “the wickedest man in the world,” but this doesn’t rub off on Söderberg.  He makes solemn claims for his art spawning alternative experiences, especially where the mysteries of life are concerned. In this sense Söderberg’s art discovers new spiritual vistas, while being earnest, proactive, pre-scientific, and post-critical.  His art is allergic to irony.  Seeing beyond his untethered life, the heart of Crowley's writing tells us True Will is our essential spiritual core as we move from a relatively unenlightened state to a state of pure selfhood. "Do what thou wilt" was Crowley’s moral and spiritual compass, yet he never meant it to refer to the outer emotional self, but rather to the sacred core of personal divinity.  His conception of God was as a force within oneself.  Söderberg has found faith in these basic tenets, and his art thus becomes the face to his search for spiritually.  Why not?  Do you have a better alternative?    

Ronald Jones
Stockholm

Milliken Gallery 2010

Pictures related to the works of Aleister Crowley, from left to right Crowley in his ceremonial robe, Version of The Lamen made by the Master Therion 1920-1930, Magical designs of the Vault of the Adepts used by the Golden Dawn, Lam an extra-terrestial Intelligence with whom Crowley was in astral contact with, Watercolour on paper, different sizes, 2010


Works related to the history of Ahriman and a version of a spirit made by Ithell Colquhoun, and a portrait of a young Austin Osman Spare, Watercolour on paper, different sizes, 2010


Pictures related to the British history of witchcraft and paganism, Watercolour on paper, different sizes, 2009 - 2010


Pictures related to the British history of witchcraft and paganism, Watercolour on paper, different sizes, 2009 - 2010 


Pictures related to the British history of witchcraft and paganism, Watercolour on paper, different sizes, 2009 - 2010 


Pictures of tarot card sketches, and a Tattwa calculator, Watercolour on paper, different sizes, 2009 - 2010


AOS - London 1956, 2010
Watercolour on paper 76 x 56 cm


AOS - The Black Brother II, 2010
Watercolour on paper 76 x 56 cm


AOS - The Black Brother, 2010
Watercolour on paper 172 x 128 cm


Avebury, 2009
Watercolour on paper 21 x 34 cm


Ithell Colquhouns Dream, 2010
Watercolour on paper 39 x 25 cm


Mandragora, 2009
Watercolour on paper 41 x 28 cm


Pan, 2009
Watercolour on paper 22 x 14 cm


Ritual II, 2009
Watercolour on paper 51 x 51 cm


Stone Circle I, 2009
Watercolour on paper 13 x 18 cm


Symbols and Tools, 2008
Watercolour on paper 68 x 50 cm


The Anatomy of Sexuality II, 2008
Watercolour on paper 165 x 119 cm


The Anatomy of Sexuality I, 2009
Watercolour on paper 165 x 119 cm


The Beginning of Magick I, 2009
Watercolour on paper 165 x 119 cm


Treat the Gods as if they Exist, 2010
Watercolour on paper 178 x 138 cm


The Beginning of Magick II, 2009
Watercolour on paper 165 x 119 cm


In the Beginning of 1900 II, 2009
Watercolour on paper 105 x 75 cm